Using the Internet

1. What is the Internet?

The internet is made up of millions of computers linked together around the world in such a way
that information can be sent from any computer to any other 24 hours a day. These computers
can be in homes, schools, universities, government departments, or businesses small and large.
They can be any type of computer and be single personal computers or workstations on a school
or a company network. The internet is often described as 'a network of networks' because all the
smaller networks of organizations are linked together into the one giant network called the
internet. All computers are pretty much equal once connected to the internet; the only difference
will be the speed of the connection which is dependent on your Internet Service Provider and
your own modem.
2. What do you use Internet for?
There are so many things you can do and participate in once connected to the internet. They
include using a range of services to communicate and share information and things quickly and
inexpensively with tens of millions of people, both young and old and from diverse cultures
around the world. For example:
 You'll be able to keep in touch and send things to colleagues and friends using electronic
mail, internet telephone, keyboard chat and video conferencing.
 You can also tap into thousands of databases, libraries and newsgroups around the world
to gather information on any topics of interest for work or recreation. The information
can be in the form of text, pictures or even video material.
 This means you can stay up to date with news, sports, weather and any current affairs
around the world with information updated daily, hourly or instantly.
 You can also locate and download computer software and other products that are
available in cyberspace
 You can listen to sounds and music, and watch digital movies
 There are also a growing number of interactive multimedia games and educational tools.
And as well as using the Internet for receiving things you will be able to publish
information about your development work experiences, community, school, hobbies or interests.
 3. How to do a search?
Finding resources on the Internet can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are
millions of documents on the Internet, published by specialists, scientists, teachers and students.
Some of them will be useful for your research project; the trick is in finding them!
One of the easiest and safest methods of researching for relevant resources is by using
Directories that have already been evaluated by other organizations. Directories are collections
of resources organized into categories. Sometimes the directory will focus on one subject area,
others may collect and organize resources in a number of areas.
Internet is not like your school library, with its shelves of well-organized books. Simply
browsing the internet is unlikely to find you the information you need, so in order to find the
resources you want for your research project, you will need, at some point, to use a search engine
- a tool used to search for information on the internet.
Search engines compile databases of web pages which allow users to search the internet for
specific resources, by doing what is termed a keyword search. When a user types in a search
request such as "Egypt", the search engine already knows where all the pages that include the
word "Egypt" are located.
Planning a search
When you are using a search engine it's important to clearly define your keywords. You need to
be specific rather than general, because there is so much information out there; a general search
may return you hundreds of thousands of hits. In order to avoid being overloaded with
information, think carefully about what you are searching for. For example, a search for the word
"cat" returned 500,000 hits! But a search for "cat health" returned only 200 hits, still a large
number, but much more useful.
Before you start your search think about what you are looking for and do some groundwork with
a pen and paper. Think of all the possible terms you might use for your subject. Think of any
differences there may be in terminology from country to country. For example, in South Africa
we talk about primary schools, in the US the term is elementary school. So a search for "primary
school" might not find you information about American schools. Of course this might be an
advantage if you were only looking for information about South Africa.
4. How to treat information and sources
Finding the information you want on the Internet is only the first step. There is a lot of material
available, but not all of it is equally reliable and useful. If you are doing research, a large part of
your job is not simply to find information, but to make judgments about its merit. Before you use
any material you have found, you need to spend some time evaluating it for accuracy and
importance. Use the following questions as a guide, but also use your own experience and skills
to make a decision.
Who put this information here?
The source of the material might give you a clue to its reliability. A site maintained by a
university or government organization might be more reliable than one maintained by a private
citizen.
How old is the material?
Sometimes the age of information matters. If you need current statistics then check the age of the
material you have found. As a rule, in most fields anything more than five years old is probably
outdated. But a site which deals with historical information may not need up-dating as frequently
as one which is all about the latest political events. Just because information isn't regularly
changed doesn't mean you shouldn't use it, but you need to be aware that your information is not
necessarily the most recent.

Who wrote the information? Who is responsible for this information being here?
The status of the writer is often of considerable importance in deciding the reliability of
information. You can probably assume that material written or otherwise provided by a known
expert in the field is likely to be reliable. Resources provided under the auspices of a recognized
institution might be considered reliable as well. But what about student pages on a university
server? Just because you have never heard of the author of the page doesn't mean that the
information is inaccurate or unreliable, but it does mean that you can't take it at face value. You
might have to do some cross-checking, either elsewhere on the net, or with books or articles.
Why is this material here?
Who put the material on the Internet and why? Think about whether they might have some
reason other than pure helpfulness for posting information. Many special interest groups have
web pages, and while this doesn't necessarily mean the material is biased it is something you
need to think about. All sorts of groups now have web pages on the Internet, and obviously all of
them have a message they are trying to get across. Think about what is being said, and why the
material is there.
Can I do a cross check?
Think about ways you might cross check the information you have found. You might have a look
at another site with similar material, ask somebody who knows something about the topic, and
have a look at book on the subject. Use your own experience as well. If you have already done
some research in the area you will already have some knowledge of the subject. How does this
material fit in with what you already know?
What is Referencing?
Referencing (also called citing) simply means that you indicate which material is not your own
and show where you got it from. Even if you have not used someone's exact words, but have
rephrased their ideas you need to give your sources. The idea is that someone else reading your
work should be able to recognize the difference between your work and someone else's. You
need to provide them with enough information about your sources that they could find the source
for themselves.
There are several different referencing systems, each subject area tends to use its own system of
citations, but whatever style you choose it is important to be consistent, complete and accurate.
This is matters not only for books and articles, but electronic sources as well.
Why reference?
Plagiarism is theft. If someone broke into your house and stole your television you would be
understandably upset. That was your television and now you can't watch in exactly the same
way, using someone else's ideas without acknowledging where they came from is stealing.
That is what referencing is all about, making sure that you if you use someone else's words or
ideas, you let your readers know where the information came from. It is okay to quote from a
book, or use the ideas from someone's work in your own work, but it does mean that you need to
be careful to make sure that you acknowledge where the information came from, and make it
quite clear that it is not your own original ideas. The way you do that is to make sure you
reference any material you use which is not your own.
Referencing resources from the Internet
You need to include:
 The author's name (if known);
 the full title of the work;
 the title of the complete work if applicable;
 the document date if known;
 the full URL
 date of visit.