School of Library and Information Science
College of Arts and Sciences -- University of South Florida

LIS 4930  Spanish/Latin American Web Resources
Unit 3.  Locating,  Evaluating and Citing Sources of Information from the WWW
Click on the title in blue to go the linked materials.


What is the WWW?
-- Client/Server Computing
-- Internet Addressing
-- Domain Name System
-- URLs
-- Internet Protocols

Finding Information on the WWW
-- Setting Language Preferences
-- Using Foreign Language Search Engines

Evaluating Sources
-- Relevance
-- Authority
-- Currency
-- Accuracy/bias
-- Purpose
-- Intended audience
--Sample evaluation

Online Publications
-- Books
-- Periodicals

Citing Sources of Information
-- The need to cite
-- How to cite
--Ethical use of information


 
WHAT IS THE WORLD WIDE WEB?

The World Wide Web (WWW) and e-mail are perhaps the best known facets of the internet, a network of linked computers which is truly global in scope.  Millions of people throughout the world are connected through the internet.  The internet also provides
  • electronic mail (e-mail), mailing lists or discussion lists
  • reference sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias (some are free; others require subscription)
  • electronic newspapers, magazines, and journals (some are free; others require subscription)
  • the ability to retrive files, documents, data, and software programs
  • multi-media formats
Global connectivity on the Internet is possible because tens of thousands of networks are connected to the Internet and exchange information in the same basic ways. These concepts underlie the Internet; without any of them, the linkage of so many different computers would be impossible.
  • Client/Server Computing
  • Internet Addressing and Domains
  • Internet Protocols
Client/Server Computing
This refers to the model for computer networking. In this model, the client is the requesting machine (PC or workstation where the user is sitting) and the server is the supplying machine. The client sends a request, like a customer in a restaurant placing an order, and the server responds with the information that was asked for, like the waiter bringing out the food to the table. The user interface on the client computer is software called a client program. The client program enables the user to send a request for information to the server. It also formats the delivered information in its own way to allow different types of computers to communicate. The World Wide Web, FTP, e-mail, and the other common Internet tools all use client programs. In the case of the Web, the web browser (such as Netscape or Internet Explorer) is the client software. The browser sends a request to the server, and when the request is answered, displays the contents of the web page on the user's computer.
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Internet Addressing
 The Internet Protocol (IP) uses internet address information to deliver mail and other information from computer to computer. Every IP address on the Internet is actually a series of four numbers separated by periods (referred to as dots), such as  192.65.245.76.  Each series of numbers is in the range of 0 through 255. Starting from the left, the numbers in the system identify a network, and the numbers on the right identify a specific host machine or computer system. For example:
 192.65.245 .76
network address
 host machine
It is difficult, if not impossible, to remember these numeric addresses to access a particular web site. Also, sometimes numeric IP addresses change, and it would be impossible for people to keep track not only of the original numeric addresses, but also to know every time those numeric addresses change. To solve these problems, an easier way has been developed to keep track of addresses: the Domain Name System (DNS).

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Domain Name System (DNS)
The DNS gives each machine on the internet a unique name.  It may be a short name, such as www.usf.edu, or a longer one such as www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov, but it is always a unique name, registered with the InterNIC, The Internet's Network Information Center, the organization created to keep track of who owns what name. Many domain names begin with the letters www but this is merely a convention not a requirement of DNS. The naming system for domain names is hierarchical; that is, a computer is named, from right to left, for the largest domain to which it belongs, then by any subdomains within that, and finally by an individual computer name. The syntax looks like this:
 computername.subdomain.domain
For example, for the machine chuma.cas.usf.edu, its domain name can be analyzed as follows (read from right to left):
chuma.
 cas.
 usf.
 edu
The College of Arts and Sciences has more than one machine; this particular computer name is "chuma."

 The machine specifically belongs to the College of Arts and Sciences; "cas" is a smaller subdomain within "usf."
 The largest subdomain is the University of South Florida.
 The largest domain (top-level) to which the address belongs is that of educational institutions.



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Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

 On the web, the addresses you locate are called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), a standard format for specifying exactly where something is on the Internet and how to get there. URLs are hierarchical, and the hierarchy moves from left to right. URLs look like this, (where anything in brackets [ ] is optional). 
protocol://domain_name [:port] / [pathname] / [filename]
Usually a port is not specified after the domain name unless it is something other than 80, which is the default port number.  The majority of URLs will start off by specifying that the file is to be delivered with HTTP, the protocol for a web page.  For example:
http://
 chuma.cas.usf.edu/
 ~swohlmut/lis4930
 /index.html
protocol
 domain name
 pathname
 file name

Note that ~ as part of a pathname usually indicates a personal directory on a server. URLs of this type indicate that the web page is the work of an indivudal and may or may not have the endorsement of the institution on which the page is hosted.

URLs may also appear without a pathname or specific file name.  Because the Web server has a default file (usually named index.htm or index.html it will still take you to the main web page if no other file is specified. So http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~swohlmut/lis4930 is a valid URL because the server at chuma.cas.usf.edu will give you the main page if you don't specify in the URL that you want to go to a sub-category page such as this one for Unit 3 -- http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~swohlmut/lis4930/unit3.html.

Be careful in recording and typing URLs.  Computers are unable to guess what you meant to type.  If any letters (including distinction of upper and lower case) or punctuation fail to match the URL you will get an error message and will not be connected to the web site you wanted.


























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Internet Protocols  

The World Wide Web uses the rules of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is used to transfer documents written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which make up most of the web. HTTP servers are popular because they can distribute hypermedia information quickly and efficiently, as well as deliver hypertext documents containing embedded links.

The HTTPS protocol is the same as the HTTP protocol, except that a level of security has been added to the protocol. The "S" stands for "secure." HTTPS is a unique protocol that includes a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) between the HTTP protocol and a connection protocol.  HTTPS URLs appear the same as HTTP URLs, except for the added S in the prefix, as shown here: https://my.usf.edu
 There are other protocols as well but these are the two you will encounter most frequently on the World Wide Web

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FINDING INFORMATION ON THE WWW

The vastness of the WWW with billions of web pages and documents makes it difficult to search for items without using a search tool.  Most internet users rely on search engines to build a search query designed to retrieve relevant and reliable information, hopefully in sufficient quantity to permit selection of a subset of the most appropriate information.  The researcher's ideal search results are

High precision : relevant to the query
High recall : sufficient in number

Most search engines offer the users advanced features to search by
  • Key words -- for many search engines the terms inserted in the search box are treated as Boolean AND.  This means that the search engine will retrieve only web pages that have all of the terms specified. 
  • Phrase search -- placing the search string inside quotation marks, for example, "Spanish American War"
  • File type -- video, audio, image, etc.
  • Domain name -- specific country or, for the U.S., .gov (for federal agencies), .org (for non profits), .com (for commercial websites)
To read more about search engines go to the SearchEngineWatch web site, or, if you prefer to read about search engines in Spanish, try the web site at Portal de Buscadores.

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Setting Language Preferences

All of the major search engines allow the user to select language preference.  However, if you expect to retrieve relevant web sites with your query you must take care that the language of the query also conforms to spelling norms, including diacritics, for the target language.  Many search engines conduct a "smart search." For example, user input of "a" may be also searched as "á" or à."  In general, however, the user cannot count on the search engine, including internal search engines on individual web sites, to compensate for defective queries.

Below is a review of the language features available on the search engines with the largest databases.
  • Google -- Select Language Tools next to the search input box. Drop-down menus will then let you specify both language and country.
  • Altavista -- Allows users to select all languages or English and Spanish from the main search screen.
  • AlltheWeb.com -- Select Advanced Search.  You can then pick a language from a drop-down menu as well as include a specific domain, or pick a geographic region (Latin America is an option) from a drop-down menu.
  • Teoma --  Select Advanced Search.  The options offered are the same as for AlltheWeb.com.
  • Inktomi-based search engines
    • Yahoo! -- The Advanced feature allows the user to select a language and a specific country from the choices provided.
    • Hotbot -- The Advanced Search allows the user to select a language, type in a specific domain name, or select a region including North America, Central America and South America. 
You can also use the advanced features or other menu options to locate images, sound files and videos.


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Using Foreign Language and International Search Engines

Several of the major search engines offer international versions with an interface in languages other than English.  

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EVALUATING SOURCES OF INFORMATION

General Criteria for Evaluation
  • Relevance
    • Avoid the temptation to cite unnecessary information as a space filler 
    • Include in the text and bibliography only sources of information pertinent to the project at hand
  • Authority
    • Authority resides in the adequate professional preparation and expertise of the person or organization responsible for the information being used
    • Authority can be established through awareness of the reputation of the individual or organization as seen in 
      • references to the author/organization in academic or scholarly bibliographies, indexes, databases
      • list of other publications/accomplishments of the author/organization found in a reliable publication or web site
      • presence of appropriate attributions, references and bibliography in the information source being used
  • Currency
    • The demand for currency varies greatly with the topic of investigation.  However, even historical researchers want to include the latest developments in the field although the event under study may have occurred a long time ago.
    • Bear in mind that electronically disseminated materials are not always the most current.  Many older materials have been converted into machine readable formats and made accessible through the internet.  Be sure to examine the materials carefully for date of production or publication.
  • Accuracy/bias
    • While obvious factual errors may be easily recognized accuracy of information can be compromised through more subtle means such as omission.  
    • Check the bibliography to make sure that seminal articles or research in the field has been recognized.
    • If there is a known polemic regarding a particular issue, are all sides represented or at least recognized?
    • Be alert to faulty argument structure.  If you are unfamiliar with argument structure and logical fallacies press here for a PowerPoint tutorial.  
  • Purpose
    • While the purpose of scholarly publications is transparent the abundance of information on the World Wide Web calls for the user to be aware of other reasons for disseminating information.  
    • There are many commercial sites on the web that provide information but at the same time endorse a particular service or product.  
    • Nonprofit organizations may espouse a particular viewpoint or political agenda through the information they provide.  
    • Although web-based information is convenient and easy to obtain, the researcher should always approach the source with caution -- caveat emptor.
  • Intended Audience
    • The presentation of information reflects the intended audience.  
    • Examples of audience-specific materials are literature intended for professionals with a certain level of academic preparation and expertise, or, alternatively works written in simple language for adults with limited literacy or age-appropriate materials for K-12 school children
    • Select sources of information appropriate for your intended audience and that meet the expectations for research in your discipline


 

Sample Evaluation
As an example look at this web site on the Irish hunger strikes in 1980/1981 -- The Irish Hungerstrikes.  While the web site provides good background information on the political issues in Northern Ireland, the hunger strike victims and survivors, there are several issues to consider.
  • Authority:  Who are the authors and organization behind the projects on the Larkspirit web site?  Some of the articles appear to be well-researched with footnotes and lists of references.
  • Currency:  The web site was first put on the web in 1996, the 15 year anniversary of the end of the hungerstrikes.  Has it been updated since then?  Has any new information become available about these events, for example, through declassification of documents?
  • Accuracy/bias:  Note the use of emotionally charged language, for example, the contrast of "Irish soil" and "British jail."  Look at the mission statement on the home page at http://larkspirit.com/
  • Purpose:  Again, examine the mission statement.  The purpose of the web site is not merely to provide information about the Northern Ireland political process but to "promote freedom with justice for Ireland."  Note the reference to Ireland not to Northern Ireland.  This in itself is a political statement.

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ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

Books and Documents
  • Also known as monographs, books are separately published works with these characteristics.  
    • have one or more authors
      •
    • the author may be an individual, several individuals, one or more organizations
      •
    • usually circulate, that is, they may be checked out for a determined period of time (sometimes dependent on the user's classification as undergraduate, graduate, staff or faculty)
      •
      • books which are part of the reference collection normally do not circulate
      • books which have been placed "on reserve" have limited circulation
        •
    • may take longer to be published than periodical literature; hence, books are often less current
      •
  • Books in an academic library tend to be scholarly in nature
  • Caveat:  Anyone can publish a book; there are many self-published materials.  Just because it is in print is not a guarantee that the content of a book is a good source of information.
  • For tips on searching for books in the USF Libraries Catalog, see
    http://web.lib.usf.edu/ref/help-aleph/searchhelppages/help.html
  • USF also offers a large selection of  online books through the NetLibrary service; for more information about NetLibrary click on the name; to access NetLibrary enter through the USF Libraries tab in Blackboard or enter USF Libraries through the main web page at http://lib.usf.edu and follow the instructions for connecting from home.
  • Other Digital Library Sites of interest to the Latin Americanist are listed below; this list is representative not comprehrehensive.  Note that these sites often offer a mix of monographic and periodical literature as well as primary source documents such as maps, photographs, letters, and other documents.
  • American Memory (Library of Congress)
  • Biblioteca Digital Andina (Comunidad Andina)
  • Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
  • Biblioteca Pública Digital (Ministery of Education, Argentina)
  • Historical Text Archive
  • The Online Books Page (U. of Pennsylvania)
  • Cornell Library Historical Monographs
  • Linking the Americas (Stanford University)
  • Project Gutenberg
Periodicals
  • A serial publication is intended to be issued more than once, unlike a book (although books may have subsequent or revised editions).  
  • Some serials are issued annually such as yearbooks and almanacs (sp. anuario, ptg. anuário; almanaque).
  • Serial publications that are issued more frequently are called periodicals and include journals, magazines and newspapers.
    • Journals (academic and professional) are an excellent source of information for scholarly research or informtion linked to a particular profession.  All disciplines have specialized publications that report current research in the field and thus provide a venue for dissemination of information to members of the academic or professional community.   
      •  Articles submitted for publication in scholarly journals are often reviewed by an editorial board  of professionals in the field (refereed or peer-reviewed).   The bibliography of a scholarly article is often as important as the text of the article itself. 
      • Professional journals often contain articles on trends in the profession, product reviews, and career information including position vacancy announcements.  
    • Magazines  are popular periodical publications. which appeal to a wide reading public.  The language is non-technical in nature.  Periodicals may be news-oriented or deal with topics of popular interest.  As primary sources of information magazines are good sources for gauging the popular viewpoint and learning about societal values, often through the advertisements presented, as well as the articles themselves.
    • Newspapers are often published on a daily basis and report the latest events at the community, state, national and world level. In U.S. newspapers local stories are often written by staff of individual newspapers, but many of the national and international events are reported from a wire service.  Newspapers also include editorials or opinion pieces written by the editorial staff or guest editors.  These features are often a good gauge of any inherent bias in the newspaper, such as support for a particular political party or interest group.  The news stories are often good primary sources because they may consist of interviews with eyewitnesses of events.   The newspaper's reporters and photographers are at times also eyewitnesses.



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CITING SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The Need to Cite or Give Attribution
  • Why do I need to cite sources of information? 
    • to indicate where you found the information 
    • to give credit to others for their work 
    • to support your arguments by citing authorities in the field 
    • to provide readers/audience with the opportunity to view sources themselves
  • When do I cite sources of information? 
    • In general, if you have used information that falls into any of the categories listed below you must acknowledge your source.   
      • Ideas, opinions or theories of another person, group or association 
      • Factual information including statistics, graphs, tables that are not common knowledge 
      • Direct quotations of something spoken or written by another individual or group 
      • Paraphrases of something spoken or written by another individual or group
      • Drawings, photographs or other media that are the work of another individual or group
    • Note that the need to correctly attribute or cite applies to both published and unpublished works.  Anything on the WWW is considered to be published.




How to Cite Sources of Information
  • In a written report or research paper there are usually in-text parenthetical references or footnotes or endnotes that refer to items sources of information cited in the notes or in a bibliography (list of sources used) at the end.
  • The bibliography shows the list of works you actually used and cited in your report or research paper.  Some style manuals (for example, MLA) also allow a list of works consulted but not cited.
  • The individual items in the bibliography are bibliographic citations.
  • A bibliographic citation contains full information on the work consulted, such as 
    • author
    • editor
    • title
    • additional edition information (2nd, revised, reprint, etc.)
    • place and date of publication (for books)
    • volume number and/or pagination (for journals, multivolume monographic publications, chapters in books)
  • Note that it is not sufficient to simply provide a list of references at the end and let your reader guess which information came from which source.  You must provide an attribution in the text of the paper itself either by using  parenthetical references or a system of footnotes or endnotes.

  • What citation style to use
    • Choice of citation style may be governed by many factors
      • Are you preparing a research paper?
      • Are you writing a thesis or dissertation?
      • Are you preparing a paper for publication?
      • What are the guidelines of your instructor, institution, journal?
    • In general, the following are the preferred styles of the disciplines indicated:
      • APA (American Psychological Association), used in education and the social sciences 
      • CBE (Council of Biological Editors, now Council of Science Editors), used in the physical and biological sciences 
      • Chicago Style (University of Chicago Press), used in many academic publications including books and scholarly journals 
      • MLA (Modern Language Association), used in language/literature studies and the humanities 
    • A handy web source to check on format questions is Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online (Bedford/St. Martin's).  Be sure to review the information on citing materials from the web or online information sources.

Ethical Use of Information
  • The ease with which materials can be copied and reproduced has raised many issues regarding intellectual property and, in the context of academic institutions, plagiarism
  • Be sure that you are acquainted with USF policies on what constitutes plagiarism and what are the consequences.  Read the section on Academic Dishonesty in the Student Handbook.
  • Review the tutorial on plagiarism located here.
  

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Contact Information


Instructor:
Sonia Ramírez Wohlmuth, Instructor
School of Library and Information Science
World Language Education
University of South Florida

Office: CIS 2041
Telephone: 813-974-6837
Email: swohlmut@cas.usf.edu
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