As more information is made available on the web, the ability to evaluate your sources becomes more critical. The Internet is an incredible tool for research but requires new skills for resource evaluation. Understanding the structure of a web address (URL) can be helpful as well as using more advanced search techniques when conducting on-line research. This tutorial has two parts: part 1- Anatomy of URL, Part 2- Power Searching with Alta Vista.

Anatomy of a URL

The URL or web address is coded in a very specific way so that information can be found easily on the Internet. Here are the basics of a web address.

http:// (protocol- ftp://, mailto://etc.)
www. (service/domain)
DomainName (web server- host name)
.com (extension that designates type of domain)

Example: http://www.greenhill.org

Domains

Common Domains used in the United States

Some domains in the U.S. and Europe also include location information. These location codes contain a 2 letter country code: us= United States, uk= United Kingdom, mx= Mexico etc. Here are a few examples of URL’s that contain location information:

http://www.technet.gtcc.cc.nc.us
technet at Guilford Technical Community College, community colleges, North Carolina, United States

http://webmail.greenhill.org
webmail server at Greenhill School

Path

Often there is additional information after the domain which points to a specific file location. This is known as the path. Understanding the path is also important in assessing the validity of a site. While a .edu site is usually an institute of higher education and might have more credible or current information, the path may include a “Tilda” (~) which signifies that you are viewing pages by a specific author that may not have the review process that the university might employ. The tilda precedes the directory assigned to a specific person (http://hale.pepperdine.edu~cwbigenh).

Try the following:

You are studying the American Revolution. Your teacher is a U.S. citizen and trained in the United States. Your textbook is written by a group of American authors and was published by a U.S. publishing house. History is written by the victors. What would the American Revolution look like from the British perspective? Now you can compare and contrast this topic from multiple perspectives. In Alta Vista, type the following in the search field: "american revolution" domain:uk. This will pull items related to the American Revolution that come from a domain in the United Kingdom. Now you can read history from another perspective.

What about comparing views from around the world related to the Iraq War. In Alta Vista, type the following:

• "Iraq War" domain:fr (French domains)
• "Iraq War" domain:uk (British domains)
• "Iraq War" domain:org (Domains that are organizations)
• "Iraq War" domain:gov (Domains that are part of the U.S. government)

What can you learn about a site by who is links to the site. Try the following search in Alta Vista:

1. Type this search term into Alta Vista: "Martin Luther King"
2. Take a quick look at the second non-commercial hit then return to this instruction page. It should be titled: "Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination"
3. Now see who is linked to this page. Would you want to include this historical perspective in a research paper on Martin Luther King? Type the following into Alta Vista to see who links to this page: link:http://www.martinlutherking.org/