Accessing+Information

The first important thing we considered in class was how to access and search for important information. When searching online there are numerous sites that can help or hinder your search. There are specific websites that help to narrow down the information so that it is helps you to find specifically what you are looking for. After you find the information you want, it is important to find out if it is available for you to use. You must consider the copyright information when you want to use something. Some places will allow you to use their information freely, and other places will not allow you to use the information at all. If you can use the information you must then make sure that the site you found the information from is properly sited, because if it is not sited properly then it is plagiarized. Plagiarism is a problem because many people do not realize that they are plagiarizing. We also learned to how to determine if the website is useful through website evaluations. While you are looking at websites you must evaluate the page in terms of how easy it is to navigate, if it is written at a level that the students can understand, if there is an author to the page, how often it has been updated, and especially how pertinent the information is to you and your class. On Wikispaces, we were able to share information easily and work on projects together, like analyzing other people's websites. We were also able to embed information into our Wikispaces from other locations, making it not only easy to access, but also easy to share. Wikispaces also allowed us to add RSS feeds which helps to bring all sorts of information directly to us instead of us having to go look for it. Google Docs allowed us to build things, like surveys, which helps us to gather information quicker. The spreadsheets that can be made from those Google Docs let us analyze the information in a quick and easy format. It allows us to gather the information and manipulate it so that we can find specifically what we are looking for.