Searching
Online: A Guide for Lower School Students
and Parents
Step
1: LOWER SCHOOL LINKS
Wouldn't it be great if someone did
all the searching and evaluating and provided you
with a list of great online sources to use for your
school projects? Fay School librarians, Mrs. D'Elia
and Mrs. Levasseur, have done just that!
On the LOWER SCHOOL
LINKS page you'll find a list of databases and
web sites carefully selected for school projects.
Fay School subscribes to several databases
which provide specialized information for Lower School
Students:
Kids
InfoBits: Reference and magazine articles especially
for students in grades 1-5 from Gale Databases (InfoTrac).
Grolier
Online: New Book of Knowledge: A great source
for research and current events, this is the cool
encyclopedia with serious information for young
students.
When you use LOWER SCHOOL LINKS, you are using web
sites chosen by Fay School librarians and teachers.
Step
2: DIRECTORIES
A directory is a collection of web sites
organized by subject and indexed, with brief descriptions
of content. There are some fantastic directories you
can use, such as Kids
Click and The
Internet Public Library for Kids, which will guide
you to kid-friendly web sites that have been reviewed
by teachers, librarians and other professionals. You'll
find a full list of directories on SEARCH
THE WEB.
There are two ways to use directories:
Choose a subject from the list.
Type search terms in the search box.
Remember that when you search a directory,
you are only searching the web sites that the directory
has chosen!
What's the difference between
a database and a directory?
A database is usually
material from reference books (like Grolier Online)
or magazine and newspaper articles (like Kids InfoBits).
Libraries (or individuals) must pay for subscriptions
in order for you to use them. Search engines cannot
find information from these databases.
A directory is a
list of web sites that are freely available on the
World Wide Web. Search engines can find these web
sites, but the directory is an organized list of
selected web sites.
When you use DIRECTORIES, you are using web sites
selected by that particular directory's editors, who
might be educators.
Step
3: SEARCH ENGINES
A search engine is a site on the World
Wide Web that uses software to locate key words in
other sites. You can try some interesting search engines
on Fay School Library's SEARCH
ENGINES page.
Warning: Search engines
do not check the content of web sites for accuracy!
The Fay librarians have created a tool for you to
help you decide if a web site is good to use for your
project. Go to the Fay School Library's WEB
SITE EVALUATION page and answer a few questions.
You'll also find links to more information.
Tips for using search engines:
Type only important "key"
words. If the search engine finds too many results,
add another search term.
If you type two words, the search
engine will look for both words, not necessarily
together. Use quotation marks for phrases.
Remember: In your
bibliography you must cite the web site that the search
engine found for you; do not cite the search engine!
When you use SEARCH ENGINES, you find web sites that
may be written by anyone, and may not even be accurate!
Step
1: LOWER SCHOOL LINKS
When you use LOWER SCHOOL LINKS, you are using web
sites chosen by Fay School librarians and teachers.
