Marc Pugliese - Theology and Religion LibGuide: The Internet

Websites are:

• current
• a good source for statistics
• a good source for facts

Use .gov and .edu websites for the most accurate information.

The websites listed below have been recommended by Saint Leo librarians and faculty:

Academic Jewish Studies Internet Directory

http://www.jewish-studies.com/

BBC Religions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/index.shtml

Bible Gateway

http://bible.gospelcom.net/

Catholic Studies (from Spring Hill College)

http://camellia.shc.edu/byrne/RefGuide/cathsrc.htm

Guide to Early Church Documents

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/christian-history.html

Internet Sacred Texts Online

http://www.sacred-texts.com/

Intute: Religion and Theology

http://www.intute.ac.uk/religion/

New Catholic Dictionary (1910)

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/indexncd.htm

Vatican II

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/v1.html

Vatican Website

http://www.vatican.va/

Virtual Religion Index

http://www.virtualreligion.net/vri/

Wabash Center: for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion

http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/guide_headings.aspx

Worldwide Faith News

http://www.wfn.org/index.php

For a complete listing of recommended websites in all discplines and subject areas, click here.

The Internet: Evaluating Websites & Search Engines

There are two parts to the Internet section. Part one familiarizes you with the types of search engines you can find on the internet. You will also learn the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of search engines. Part two will discuss how to determine the accuracy and quality of information found from free resources online.

Search Engines

Verifying and Evaluating Online Sources

How do Search Engines Work?

There are two main ways a search engine works:

• Keyword Searching
• Concept-based Searching

Keyword Searching is the most common method; you enter the word into the search engine that you believe will describe the information you are looking for. The search engine stores the keywords from webdocuments in their own in-house database, and then retrieves hits that match. Knowing what makes a word a "keyword" will help you complete more successful searches.

Concept-based Searching is a less common method employed by search engine programmers. Examples of concept-based search engines include Ask Jeeves and Yahoo!. Search terms are grouped and an attempt is made to determine your meaning. If the determination is correct, you will get good results; however, results are not always consistent with what you were really looking for.

The Library Databases use both methods of searching. Almost all of the web-based search engines use algorithms based on "key words." Google uses Keyword searching, and enhances it by monitoring your previous searches to guess at what you might be currently seeking. Google is tracking and monitoring what you click on in the results of Google search pages.

Increasing Accuracy

You can increase the accuracy of your search results.

Use a subject guide, such as Yahoo! for general information, categorical searching, and when you are just beginning to refine your topic. For example, if you were looking for information on Internet Privacy Issues, you might start with that as your search term in Yahoo! You might then want to search within https://saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/, a library funded online reference resource.

Then use a Search Engine such as Google when you have refined your search and familiarized yourself with what some of the less general terms are. Using the example (above), after you had looked at the websites returned by Yahoo!, you could further narrow your search under several sub-categories, such as the Children's Internet Protection Act, or the Domestic Survelliance Project, or the ability of companies to monitor, store and read employee email, along with many other subtopics. Yahoo would provide you with enough background knowledge so that when you searched in https://saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/ or one of the library databases, you would be able to find high quality resources.Try a metasearch engine when you are having limited success finding quality information.

Narrowing Your Search

Use one or more boolean operators.

• And
• Or
• Not
• Near

AND: (sometimes uses a +) Russia AND China. Both terms must be present to create a hit.

OR: Russia OR China. Either term must be present to create a hit.

NOT: (sometimes uses a -) Russia NOT China. Hits will contain russia but not china.

NEAR: russia NEAR china. Terms must appear with 10 words of each other to create a hit.

Phrase Searching 

• Quotes. When you use quotes, you are searching for a phrase. Phrase searches are especially useful when searching for famous sayings or proper names. Example: "Four score and seven years ago..."

When in doubt, check the website's help pages.

Other Searches

• Limiting your search to a picture. The two most common extensions for images are .jpg and .gif. Google and the Library of Congress support this.
• Finding similar webpages. For instance, related:webMD.com will list all webpages that are similar in content to webMD. Note there can be no space between the “related:" and the web page url.
• Limiting your search to links pointing to a specific webpage. Example - link:www.google.com will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "link:" and the web page url.

Quick review of the most popular search engines

AltaVista
One of the largest and most comprehensive.
Simple and advanced search, Images, MP3/Audio & Video.

Google
Currently the largest search engine. Also has Google Scholar, which contains digitzed books, link to some scholarly articles (most of which you would have to pay for to acces), citation information, and pointers to some scholarly databases, especially JStor. 

Simple and advanced search, images, and government listings

Will search in any language, and allow limiting to 15 languages including all major European languages and English (includes Japanese, Korean and Chinese). Also attempts to translate some webpages from another language into English.

Yahoo!
Provides Category matches as well as individual sites.

Results are determined by looking for matches on all words in the query box. If you see a link to a site that might be a worth visiting, click on the category that the site is in.

Dogpile
Retrieves the top 10 hits from each search engine. Searches Looksmart, Yahoo! Open Directory, About.com, Lyco's top 5%, Altavista, etc. Offers other searches for news wires, business news, stock quotes, weather, and maps.

Other Search Tips

• Use more than one search engine and one or more directories
• Try to be as a specific as possible
• Do not use a sentence or a question
• Search the library's databases if you need an article or a peer reviewed journal!
• Call or email the library for help

Recap & More Help

Recap

• What is a search engine?
• What is not a search engine?
• what kinds of information can be found?
• Search techniques.
• Boolean Operators.
• Review of several search engines and directories.

Search Smart, choose the right search tool for the job. Use a Subject Guide, such as Yahoo! for general information, categorical searching, and when you are just beginning to refine your topic.

Use a Search Engine such as Google when you have refined your search and familiarized yourself with the sub-topics.

Use a meta search engine when you are getting limited results

Refine your search using operators or phrases in quotes.

When in doubt, check the website's help pages For additional help using a specific website:

• Yahoo! Search Help
• Google Help Central
• Dogpile
• Ask Jeeves

Criteria for evaluating websites:

• Authority
• Objectivity
• Reliability
• Timeliness
• Coverage