ESL 17: ONLINE ASSIGNMENTS


Chuck's ESL 17 class at HCC in spring 2004.




Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web* is quite possibly the best online learning materials for people of all skill levels who want to know more about using the World Wide Web. The comprehension questions that Chuck wrote below are based on those online materials.

  1. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 1

  2. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 2

  3. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 3

  4. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 4

  5. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 5

  6. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 6

  7. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 7

  8. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 8

  9. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 9

  10. Questions for Bare Bones Assignment 10

*Chamberlain, Ellen, and the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina. Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web. January 1, 2000. http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml. (June 1, 2002).



Assignment 1: Search Engines: a Definition

Essential Vocabulary
General:

    simultaneous(ly)...... employ(ing) ...... perus(e-ing) ...... index(ed) (v) ...... index (n) ...... fix(ed) ...... up to the minute ...... late breaking ...... exponential(ly) ...... on the down side ...... sheer ...... scheme(s) ...... overlap ...... vary

Specialized:

    search engine(s) ...... database(s) ...... spider(s) ....... link ...... URL(s) ...... relevance (n) ...... (ir)relevant (aj) ...... response(s) ...... keyword(s) ...... finding(s) ...... quer(y-ies)

Bare Bones Lesson One
  1. What do search engines consist of and how were their databases put together?

  2. Are the two kinds of search engines similar or different? How?

  3. How do individual search engines build up their databases?

  4. After spiders arrive at a Web site, what do they usually do?

  5. When you give a search engine some keywords and tell it to search for something on the Web, what are you directing the search engine to do?

  6. When people are doing a search with a search engine, what should they keep in mind? What are they really searching?

  7. When you want to read the most current news, what should you try to find?

  8. What effect does the extremely large number of words in a search engine's database have on the results of the search?

  9. If you use the same keywords with different search engines, will the results of your search be the same or will they be different?

  10. In a list of search results, where do search engines try to place Web sites that are the most closely related to the keywords?

  11. If you want a big list of results that contains a lot of different kinds of Web sites that are all related to a certain topic, how should you do a Web search?
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Assignment 2: Metasearchers: a Definition

Essential Vocabulary
General:

    multiple ...... simultaneous(ly) ...... retriev(e-ing) ...... retrieve(d) ...... results ...... merge(d) ...... duplicate ...... entries ...... collate ...... "salad bar" ...... initiate ...... at its mercy ...... configure(d) ...... drawn...... relevant ...... overview ...... pull(ing) up

Specialized:

    metasearch engine ...... metasearcher(s) ...... database(s) ...... interface ...... query

Bare Bones Lesson Two

    1. Do metasearchers send out spiders to go around on the Web to make databases to later use to search? In place of that, what do they do?

    2. What kind of a list of results do most metasearch engines give you?

    3. What kind of a list of results do some other metasearch engines give you? What might be included more than once in these lists?

    4. As a strong point, what can metasearch engines give you?

    5. How about the speed of metasearch engines?

    6. The writer says that more often now than before, metasearch engines seem to be casting smaller nets, meaning that their searches have become smaller. What is the reason for that?

    7. Do metasearch engines, like individual search engines, give you a number of different ways to set up your search?

    8. How many metasearch engines search Google’s database, one of the biggest and most widely used search engines on the Web?

    9. When you don't have a lot of time, how should you do a Web search, and what's the reason for that?

    10. What are other good times to use a metasearch engine?

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    Assignment 3: Subject Directories: a Definition

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      review ...... selection criteria ...... resource(s) ...... annotate(d) ...... index(ing) ...... yield(s) ...... initiate ...... come ...... assorted flavors ...... commercial interest(s) ...... (re)configure(d) ...... stock quote(s) ...... as opposed to ...... smorgasbord ...... the line is blurring ...... partner(ed) ...... source(s) ...... pros and cons ...... hierarchical(ly) ...... (sub)-categor(y-ies) ...... cumbersome ...... human oversight ...... perceived bias

    Specialized:

      subject director(y-ies) ...... general director(y-ies) ...... academic director(y-ies) ...... commercial director(y-ies) ...... portal(s) ...... vortal(s) ...... gateway(s) ...... subject-specific director(y-ies) ...... link(s) ...... query ...... database(s) ...... browsable ...... clicking ...... out of context ...... point ...... dead link(s) ...... e-commerce sites ...... brows(e-ing)

    Bare Bones Lesson Three

    1. In what way are subject directories and search engines different?

    2. In terms of size, how do directories compare with search engine databases? What's the reason for that?

    3. What is it that directories may have as a part of their Web sites, and what are they for?

    4. If a directory has a search engine, what happens when you use keywords to search the directory?

    5. What sorts of subject directories are there?

    6. How do subject directories become portals?

    7. What's the difference between vortals, i.e., vertical portals, and (regular) portals?

    8. How do people who edit directories arrange topics in the directories?

    9. Why is it that subject directories are able to provide Web sites that are more useful and relevant than search engines?

    10. In place of storing copies of Web pages the way search engines do, what do directories do?

    11. Since a directory might keep an old link to a Web page that has moved to another location, or that has been deleted, what is a serious problem for subject directories?

    12. What is the best use of subject directories, and what are they good at providing?
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    Assignment 4: Library Gateways and Specialized Databases: a Definition

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      assemble(d) ...... review(ed) ...... specialist(s) ...... identify(ing) ...... academic(ally) ...... orient(ed) ...... business interest(s) ...... field ...... accumulate(d) ...... data ...... dub(bed) ...... embed(ded) ...... evaluate(ed) ...... "main-stream"

    Specialized:

      gateway(s) ...... subject-specific database(s) ...... portal(s) ...... point(ing) to ...... vortal(s) ...... "vertical portals" ...... index ...... "Invisible Web" ...... "Deep Web" ...... pass-protected sites ......firewall(s) ...... pdf files ...... archive(d) ...... interactive tools ...... Web profiler(s) ...... multimedia file(s)

    Bare Bones Lesson Four
    1. What kind of Web sites are library gateways?

    2. Why are library gateways helpful in academic situations, and how are they helpful?

    3. What kind of Web sites are vortals and who made them?

    4. What is the Invisible Web, sometimes called the Deep Web, and what is it made up of?

    5. How much of the World Wide Web is included in the Invisible Web?

    6. In terms of the Invisible Web, how are library gateways and subject-specific databases helpful?

    7. When is it good to use library gateways to search for something?

    8. What can you be pretty confident of when you use library gateways?

    9. What are good times to use subject-specific databases?
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    Assignment 5: Evaluating Web Pages

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      evaluat(e-ing) ...... source ...... hoax(es) ...... frivolous ...... academic course(s) ...... scholarly paper(s) ...... reference source(s) ...... tutor(ial) ...... suffix(es) ...... authentic(ity) ...... verif(y-ication)(y-ied) ...... vital ...... credentials ...... authority ...... content ...... scholarly books ...... journal articles ...... review(ed) ...... referee(d) ...... bias ......objectiv(e-tivity) ...... sponsor(s) ...... update(d) ...... distinguish ...... look to ...... commercial support ...... continu(e-uance) ...... fraud(s) ...... assess(ing) ...... stab(le-ility) ..... fluid ...... bibliograph(y-ic) ...... cite ...... (re)locate(s) ...... reference ...... source material

    Specialized:

      full-text documents ...... URL ...... Universal Resource Locator ...... transfer protocol ...... host computer ...... server name ...... domain name ...... directory name ...... sub-directory name ...... file name ...... html ...... hypertext mark-up language ...... host(s) ...... ISO ...... publish(er) ...... mail-to link ...... backup

    Bare Bones Lesson Five
    1. What are some examples of Web sites that could be of possible use to students who are studying in a serious academic situation?

    2. In the URL for the Bare Bones tutorial Web site, what is the domain name at the top-level, and what do we know about the site, based on that domain name?

    3. In the beginning, why was "US" not assigned to domain names in the United States?

    4. What letter codes do countries other than the U.S. have as the last part of their domain names, and what are some examples of those letter codes?

    5. How do you know if a Web site is dependable and honest, and which domain names can you generally depend on to give correct information?

    6. What is one thing that a reliable Web site will normally tell you?

    7. Should you believe everything you read just because you see it on a Web site? Why?

    8. What sorts of Web sites should you try to tell the difference between?

    9. How are books, magazines, and newspapers different from a Web page?

    10. If you refer to a Web page today in a report that you are writing, what might happen to that Web page?

    11. When you are using information from Web sites in a report, what should you try to determine about the Web sites that you refer to?

    12. When you are using information from Web sites in a report, why should you keep an extra copy of the information that you find on the Web?
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    Assignment 6: Creating a Search Strategy

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      strategy ...... major ..... humanities ...... statistic(s) ...... resource(s) ...... throw off ...... cut down on ...... initiate ...... quotes ...... exception ...... structur(e-ing)

    Specialized:

      brows(e-ing) ...... retrieve ...... subject directory ...... keyword(s) ...... mega-search engine(s) ...... search statement ...... (Implied) (Full) Boolean operator ...... default(s) ...... Boolean AND ...... Boolean OR ...... relevance ranking system(s) ...... "stop word(s)" ...... (ir)relevant response(s) ...... query ...... body of the page ...... query box

    Bare Bones Lesson Six
    1. If you want to know what Web sites have information that you are looking for, how should you begin your search? After that, what should you do, to find out what is available?

    2. If you want to find a particular piece of information, what suggestions does this writer make?

    3. If you want to use the Web to get everything you can about something, what does this writer suggest? What is it that you shouldn’t forget?

    4. When starting a search, if you use more than one keyword with no symbols, what will the automatic settings of the search engine be?

    5. Why is it important to know that the search engine will automatically use the Boolean AND or the Boolean OR when you use more than one keyword with no symbols?

    6. If you do a search using a search engine that has a list of stop words, small, common words, and you use any of those stop words as keywords, what will happen?

    7. When choosing key words to use in a search, what suggestion does this writer make about being definite and precise, and what does she say about the kind of words to use?

    8. Where does this writer say to put the most important words in your list of keywords? To make sure that those keywords will be included in the search, what does she say to add to the keywords?

    9. How many keywords does this writer suggest using for a search? What does she suggest doing with the keywords when you can?

    10. What kind of words should you try not to use as keywords?

    11. What kind of words should you think about using as keywords?

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    Assignment 7: Basic Search Tips

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      tip(s) ...... inclu(de-sion) ...... exclu(de-sion) ...... lower case ...... upper case ...... var(y-iation(s) ...... configure ...... CAPS ...... stick to

    Specialized:

      keyword(s) ...... string ...... truncat(e-ion) ...... wildcard(s) ...... "find" command ...... default setting(s) ...... search statement(s) ...... engine ...... default to ...... stop word ...... Boolean search(es) ...... Boolean operator(s)

    Bare Bones Lesson Seven
    1. What can you do to make sure a search engine includes certain keywords in a search? How about if you want to make sure certain words are not included?

    2. When the keywords in your search are really phrases, how do you make sure that the search engine uses those phrases exactly as they are, with the words next to each other in the exact sequence?

    3. In a line of keywords, where do you place your principal keywords?

    4. If you want a search engine to find Web sites with the keywords written in both small letters and in capital letters, how should the keywords be typed? What happens if you type the keywords in all capital letters?

    5. When you want your search to find Web sites with your keywords as they might appear in different spellings and word forms, what can you do?

    6. What kind of combinations can you make when you are typing keywords?

    7. When you are not searching the World Wide Web, but instead are only searching through one document for your keyword, how do you do a search?

    8. Why is it important for you to understand the default settings your search engine uses, like whether it uses OR or AND?

    9. If your search engine has a list of stop words, words that it ignores, what is it that you should not use as keywords?

    10. When doing Boolean searches, how should you type OR statements?

    11. When including Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT/NOT) with your keywords, why should you always use capital letters to type out each Boolean operator?

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    Assignment 8: Searching with Boolean Logic and Proximity Operators

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      formulat(e-ing) ...... derive(d) ...... link ...... precise ...... narrow(s)(er) ...... retriev(e-ing) ...... synonymous ...... limit(s) ...... redux ...... spell out ...... equate(s) to ...... inclu(de-sion) ...... exclu(de-sion) ...... serve a similar function ...... bibliographic citation(s) ...... journal articles

    Specialized:

      Boolean ...... Boolean logic ...... quer(y-ies) ...... operator(s) ...... Boolean AND ...... keyword(s) ...... enter ...... Boolean OR ...... Boolean NOT ...... Boolean AND NOT ...... nesting ...... search statements ...... drop-down menu option(s) ...... implied Boolean operator(s) ...... full Boolean operator(s) ...... advanced search option ...... basic search option ...... proximity operator(s) ...... positional operator(s) ...... ADJ ...... FBY ...... field

    Bare Bones Lesson Eight
    1. What are the words, all capitalized, that are called Boolean operators, and how are they used?

    2. Why does using the Boolean AND with keywords make the search engine bring back fewer, more relevant Web sites?

    3. How does using the Boolean OR with keywords result in getting back more Web sites?

    4. How does using the Boolean NOT or AND NOT with keywords result in the search engine bringing back a limited number of Web sites?

    5. When is it good to use parentheses when writing a search statement? (A search statements is a list of keywords, including how they are arranged, and how they are connected.)

    6. How do some search engines explain their use of Boolean logic?

    7. For those search engines that have search options, "All of the words" or "Must contain" is the same as which Boolean operator? How about "Any of the words" or "Should contain?" How about "Must not contain?"

    8. What are implied Boolean operators, and what do they replace?

    9. What happens when you type implied Boolean operators in front of keywords?

    10. How will putting double quotation marks (" ") around two or more keywords change the way the search engine does its search?

    11. (Proximity operators are capitalized words in a search statement that clearly tell what the position of certain keywords on a Web site should be.

      NEAR means that words should be in same sentence, or close to one another, but the order is not important.

      ADJ means that two or more words should be next to each other, but the order is not important.

      SAME means that the words should be in the same sentence, but the order is not important.

      FBY stands for "followed by" and means that the two words should be next to each other and the second word follows the first word.)

      How do proximity, or positional, operators (NEAR, ADJ, SAME, FBY) compare to Boolean operators?

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    Assignment 9: Field Searching

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      retrieve ...... specify ...... it's a good bet ...... relevant response(s) ...... exclusive(ly) ...... geographic(ally) ...... reside(s) ...... narrow

    Specialized:

      field search(ing) ...... field(s) ...... host ...... site ...... domain ...... URL ...... link ...... field label ...... search term(s) ...... search engine ...... title search(ing) ...... browser('s) ...... title field ..... domain search(ing) ...... domain(s) ...... advanced search option ...... drop-down menu(s) ...... basic search option ...... host search(ing) ...... site search(ing) ...... server ...... "host" query ...... "site" query ...... URL search(ing) ...... "newbie(s)" ...... link search(ing) ...... link(ing) ...... image search(ing)

    Bare Bones Lesson Nine
    1. In terms of different areas, or sections, what is a Web page usually make up of?

    2. How can field searching sometimes be useful when you are looking for something on the Web?

    3. In addition to the use of keywords, how can telling the search engine to search in the title field of Web pages affect the list of Web sites that you get back?

      As an example of title searching, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    4. If you are trying to find information from a certain kind of Web site, how can you do a field search?

      As one example of domain searching, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    5. By using drop-down menus in their advanced search option, what do some search engines allow you to do? How does SearchEdu help you to limit your search to a specific domain?

    6. If you are looking for information that is from a certain country, how can you do a field search?

      As an example of domain searching in a certain country, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    7. If you are looking for information that is kept on one particular computer being used as a Web server, what kind of a field search can you do?

      As an example of a "host" or "site" search, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    8. If you want to find a Web site with a file name that you already know, and that file's name is part of the URL for the Web site, what kind of field search might be quickest way to find that file?

      As an example of a URL search, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    9. If you want to know who is linking to a certain Web site, maybe your own or to one you are interested in, what kind of field search can you do?

      As an example of a LINK search, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

    10. If you want to find a certain graphic image on the web, what kind of field search can you do? In this kind of field search, what will you need to be clear about?

      As an example of an IMAGE search, what is the search statement that this writer uses?

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    Assignment 10: Troubleshooting

    Essential Vocabulary
    General:

      troubleshoot(ing) ...... "zillion" ...... synonym(s) ...... narrow ...... configure ...... omit(ting) ...... maintenance ...... acronym ...... upgrade

    Specialized:

      string ...... search term(s) ...... engine ...... metasearcher ...... directory ...... specialty resource ...... phrase search ...... field search ...... URL ...... server ...... cache ...... cached cop(y-ies) ...... DNS entry ...... browser ...... server ...... host(s) ...... "server error" ...... offline ...... crash(ed) ...... domain names

    Bare Bones Lesson Ten
    1. When you do a search with a search engine, why would your search return a "zillion" (meaning, a really big number of; too many really) documents (Web sites)? What can you do with the keyword?

    2. What are four reasons your search could return too few documents? What are three suggestions for dealing with that problem?

    3. What are you being told when, instead of getting back names and links (or, instead of going to a specific Web site whose URL you just typed in), your search returns a "404 -- File not found" message?

    4. What are three suggestions for dealing with the "File not found" message?

    5. What are you being told when your search or your attempt to reach a specific Web site returns a message that says, "Server does not have a DNS (Domain Name System) entry?" What could that mean?

    6. How do you deal with getting back the message that says, "Server does not have a DNS entry?"

    7. What are you being told when your search or your attempt to reach a specific Web site returns a message that says, "Server Error," or "Server is busy?" What do you do when you get this?

    8. What can you do directly in the browser, in the place where you can type a URL, when you are looking for the home page for a well-known product or organization, but you can't find it? Why does that sometimes work?

    9. What else can you do (again directly in the browser, in the place where you can type a URL) to try to find the home page for a well-know product or organization, if your browser is a recent Netscape upgrade?

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