Section 18
Digital Resources
- List 233. Search Tips and Strategies
- List 234. Simple Search Strategies
- List 235. Websites for Reading and Literacy
- List 236. Websites for Children's Literature
- List 237. Websites for Word Lovers
- List 238. Virtual Reference Library
With more than a trillion web pages on the Internet accessible by mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer, resources for every reading lesson and for every reader are available in digital form. What's more, many resources for topics relevant to reading, literacy, and content instruction are available in text, audio, and video formats. With such a wealth of information at a teacher's fingertips, it's easy to understand why this is called the information age.
The rapid expansion of the Internet has resulted in a number of solutions to the problem of so many sites, so little time. The need for more advanced online search strategies is becoming more obvious. Content aggregator sites, organizations or individuals that gather web content from different sources, are growing in popularity. Social networking sites are also being used by busy people to locate resources of interest. For example, Pinterest, a visual bookmarking site launched in 2010, grew faster than any other website before it, including Facebook, according to Arthur (2012). Evan Sharp, a cofounder, refers to Pinterest as a kind of utility (Madrigal, 2014) where people discover, save, and organize ideas for any project.
Education professionals are continually seeking practices and instructional materials and methods that work. An informal survey of how education professionals find resources on the Internet suggests teachers rely on recommendations from other teachers, professional associations, government-sponsored resources, and publishers in addition to their own search efforts.
The resources in this section will help busy teachers refine their search strategies. The curated websites on the various lists offer a plethora of instructional material, content, and interesting ideas for the reading and literacy-minded professional and their students.
- Arthur, L. (2012). Pinterest: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Forbes (April 12). Retrieved from www.forbes.com/sites/lisaarthur/2012/04/03/pinterest-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
- Madrigal, A. (2014). What is Pinterest? A database of intentions. Atlantic (August 31). Retrieved from www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/what-is-pinterest-a-database-of-intentions/375365/
List 233. Search Tips and Strategies
With information about everything available on the web, what you are looking for is just a click or two away …well, maybe not. According to Google software engineers as described in Jesse Alpert and Nissan Hajaj's 2008 blog post (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/07we-knew-web-was big.html), the number of unique URLs has hit the trillion milestone (1,000,000,000,000!). Finding exactly what you want without wasting time sorting through thousands of matches requires some search strategies and techniques. Remember the object is not to get the most matches; the object is to get the right matches.
Use lowercase letters and the singular form when entering your search term. The rules followed by search engines will result in different matches if you use upper- or lowercase letters and singular or plural forms. For example, a search on collective noun yielded 1,010,000 results but a search using Collective Nouns yielded only 693,000 results.
Put quotations marks around phrases or multiword terms. Without the quotation marks, a search engine will match sites that have either collective or noun or both but not necessarily both together. For example, collective noun yielded 1,010,000 results but “collective noun” yielded 458,000 results.
Use the plus (+) and minus (−) signs in your query. The + sign shows what you want to include, and the – sign shows what you want to exclude from the search results. A search for collective noun + elementary yielded 175,000 results; using collective noun + elementary + list resulted in 73,500 matches.
Use the * as a wildcard. The * at the end of a word will lead to variants of the search term, including plurals. For example, “white water raft*” will locate raft, rafts, rafter, rafters, rafting. This is a technique that expands the catch of your search. For most search engines, the * will replace up to five contiguous letters.
Look for titles. Simple searches match your search term with words anywhere on a website. To find websites with your search term in the title, type the word title followed by a colon and the title you are seeking. Here are two examples: title:Caldecott title:“Mother Goose”
Find a slide presentation on a topic. To locate a presentation on a specific topic, enter your topic in the search box followed by the file extension .PPT. For example, if you want to find a slide presentation about global warming, enter “global warming”.PPT.
Find other websites similar to one you have. If you find a website with the kind of information you are looking for and want to find similar sites, type related: then the URL of the website you already have and the search engine will return a list of websites with similar content. For example: related:www.readwritethink.org returned nearly fifty websites with similar reading and language content.
Find an article published within a specific time frame. Want to follow up on news you read but can't remember where or exactly when you read it? Type the word or phrase you are looking for followed by a range of dates separated by two periods(..). For example: “high school graduation rate” June 2013..July 2014.
Find something within a specific price range. Whether shopping, apartment hunting, or job hunting, search engines can return results within a specified price range. Type your search term(s) followed by the high price, two periods, and the low price. For example, learners dictionary $15.00..$5.00.
Find information for elementary, middle school, or high school learners. Type your search term, for example, “US Civil War”; when the results appear, go to the option list under the search box and select SEARCH TOOLS. SELECT ALL RESULTS, then scroll down and select READING LEVEL. The search results will show whether the material is at a basic, intermediate, or advance reading level. Select the level you are looking for. Note: Not all search engines have this feature.
Search two key words at once. Sometimes it is useful to search two key words at the same time; for example, you will get different results for searching congress versus searching senate OR “house of representatives.” To search two terms at the same time, type OR between the two in the search box. “US congress” —13,700,000 matches; “US senate” OR “US house of representatives”—17,500,000 matches.
Find the answer to a math problem. Type the problem into the search box and press ENTER. The answer will appear. For example, type in 925*328= and the search results will show 303,400 on the face of an online calculator.
Convert from one measurement system to another. Type the measurement in followed by the word to and the measurement unit you want. For example if you type 2.5 quarts to liters, the amount 2.36588 will be displayed.
Convert from one monetary specie to another. To convert US dollars to another specie, type the dollar amount followed by to and the specie you want, then press ENTER and the dollars will be converted to the new monetary system. For example, if you want to convert $100 US dollars to Euros, the amount will be converted at the current exchange rate and will be displayed. Today, $100 = €87.80
Use a timer for a standardized test or for a timed experiment. Type set timer for and the time period you want in the search box and press enter. Or, go to www.timer.onlineclock.net and sent the countdown timer for the period you want.
Use an online stopwatch to time reading or other activity. Go to www.stopwatch.onlineclock.net and click on START.
List 234. Simple Search Strategies
Today's students have been surrounded by information and communication technologies (ICTs) all of their lives: from chip-equipped toys that teach toddlers, to their own mobile phones, tablet computers, voice-enabled GPS systems, and an array of home electronics. By the time they enter school they have witnessed and likely used cell phones and other mobile technology to check weather, take and send photos, or order pizza. These experiences create a limited perspective of searching and lead to a belief that a single query with a favorite app or search engine instantly yields the answer to any question.
To meet the research and information needs in school, students need instruction and practice in online searching and, more specifically, online searching strategies. Students as early as grades 4 to 6 can begin to build a repertoire of strategies for effective online searching with a little guidance and practice.
Use TALL PERKS to frame search and research activities that return results and meet writing standards for gathering, evaluating, and integrating information from multiple sources.
| T | Think | Think of a topic or subject. Be specific. For example, food is a very broad term. Are you interested in food preparation (recipes)? Or food production (agriculture)? A specific food (artichokes)? Food as fuel (calories and digestion)? Food-related careers (nutritionist, baker, chef, food scientist)? |
| A | Ask | Ask yourself What do I know about this topic? What have I learned from books or other media about it? What do I want to find out? |
| L | List | List key words (known and want to know) |
| L | List | List related words—do a word web, think of subject-related words of the type that might be used in a book. |
| P | Prepare | Prepare a search query—what three or four words sum up the main idea or purpose for the search? |
| E | Enter | Enter query in search engine box—lowercase, not plural, no small words (of, in what, who, the). |
| R | Read | Read results—did the search provide links to the kind of information you were looking for? If not, revisit TALL. |
| K | Keep | Keep relevant information—print it out, take notes from the websites, or save it. Be sure to write down or copy and paste the website names and URLs. |
| S | Summarize | Summarize—take the information from your sources and integrate it into an organized summary of information. Don't forget to add to your sources page. |
List 235. Websites for Reading and Literacy
Before the Internet, teachers kept file drawers full of best practices and great ideas from gleaned from journal articles, workshops, colleagues, and myriad other sources. Today, a wealth of information and teaching resources are available online anytime, anywhere. Use this list to supplement your trusted go-to sites. Many of the sites listed also provide links to other reading and literacy sites.
List 236. Websites for Children's Literature
These websites offer an amazing array of useful and interesting information related to children's literature. The sites in the authors' section connect you with many favorite authors and illustrators and their websites. Some include interviews and directions for asking questions of favorite authors. The literature section offers book lists, online versions of classics, as well as specialty sites such as myths and legends and Cinderella stories. Most sites have links and many include instructional activities.
List 237. Websites for Word Lovers
Rhymes, word histories, jokes and puns, word puzzles and games, puzzle makers, word clouds, and more. These websites will engage every word aficionado, logophile, and sesquipedalianist.
List 238. Virtual Reference Library
Every student and every teacher is just a click or two away from a world-class reference library. These sites and their links cover every school subject and then some. Create a hot list or bookmark individual sites to make browsing and using them easy.