Internet (Internet glossary)

To find information, try the following search techniques at search engines. A search engine searches documents by keywords and returns a list for linking to the documents. Four search engines are Google, Alltheweb, Yahoo and Altavista. Notice that the advanced search tool allows choices for language, domain, etc. If you choose to use the basic search tool, i.e. Google, you may use the + sign, quotes, and an asterisk with your keywords to refine a search: +"education" +lesson plan*

Different engines have different techniques so it is best to click on "Help" for detailed search instructions for the engine you use. Type +"education* clearinghouse" to retrieve a list of Internet sites that link to many other sites. Internet terms that are interchangable with "clearinghouse" are "gateway," "metasite," "pathfinder" and "directory," i.e. "education" +metasite -domain:net -domain:com (the - sign eliminates the domains .net and .com for this sample). Also, deep web searching, such as requesting specific file types, i.e "outdoor education" +filetype:ppt is useful. In this filetype, "ppt" means power point presentation. (You must have power point software on your computer to view a power point presentation.) If one search engine does not retrieve satisfactory results, switch to another search engine. Whatever data you find, it is always wise to evaluate information.

Listed below are miscellaneous search strategies that you may tailor to the search instructions of the engine you use.

Need speech of United Nations on education: +"education" +"United Nations" +speech
Need bibliography on Christian education: +"Christian education " +annotated bibliography
Need a poem on special education: +"special education" +poem
Need an online language conversion dictionary for Spanish: +language dictionary +"Spanish"
Need to see if Harvard has some lesson plans on science ed: +host:harvard +"science education" +lesson plans
Need to see if there is a list for salaries for educators in Europe: +"salaries" +"educators" +"Europe" +list
Need to find a picture, video or audio? Use Altavista search engine's Search screen and click choice at top

Research Central accesses specialized fulltext and bibliographic electronic databases that you are encouraged to use during your studies with the university. However, you must have a southern.edu e-mail account to access the databases. ERIC is the premiere journal databases for education. Digital Dissertations is an excellent full text source. NetLibrary contains full text of books. Other databases are multidisciplinary and may contain fulltext for your assignments and research. The Research Subject Guide for Education is an index to many resources in-house and on-line.