Introduction

You are about to embark on a yearlong adventure in Social Studies. You have just won a position at Ruland's Time Traveler Detective Agency. You will be creating the briefing reports for the time travelers. Since our time machine has a few glitches, the time travelers may find themselves in one of a few different situations; the travelers need as much information as you can provide about the possible situations they will encounter. These briefing reports might mean the difference between success and failure.

Today's task is centered around the basic question of how to do the academic research that you will need this year.

You will use the Internet to use and evaluate some common search engines. In order to use the search engines, you will create a variety of search queries. You will also look at the sources you find so that you can start to evaluate their appropriateness for academic research.

Please notice that you are presumably looking for information on the development of agriculture in the prehistoric period. You are also looking for information about England's Civil War.

You will work on this webquest individually using the following steps:

1. If you have not already been given a copy of the Search Engine Analysis, print a copy so you can make entries.
2. Go to Altavista.com and enter the first search query in the white box in the yellow banner that is titled "Search for". Record the information on your worksheet. Continue with all the queries required. When you are finished, close the page to return to this page. This must be done fairly quickly; do not spend more than 5 minutes on any search engine. Do not go to any of the hits; all responses must be based on what you see in the search engine results.
3. Go to Yahoo! and complete the same steps as in step 2 using the box above the "Search" button.
4. Go to Google and complete the same steps as in step 2 using the box near the top and then click on the "Google Search" button.
5. Go to Dogpile and complete the same steps as in step 2 using the box at the top to the left of the "Fetch" button.
6. Go to Ask Jeeves and complete the same steps as in step 2 using the box to the right of the man and click on the "Ask" button.
7. When you have finished this part of the research, it is time to discuss your findings in an online forum. Go to the Class Discussion Board and respond to the discussion thread.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your ability to provide supporting evidence in an on-line duscussion group. The grading rubric is available for your viewing.

There are many search engines available for your use. Not all of them will give you the type of infomation you need for a particular project. You may use one search engine at home for general surfing and other ones for your more academic searches. Learning to fine-tune your queries will also assist you in getting better results. The more you learn, the easier this will be. Check out the sites listed below for some additional information.

Credits & References

Nueva School Choose the best search for your information need

Kansas City Public Library Introduction to Search Engines

Montgomery County Public Schools Helping Students Weave Their Way through the WWW