INFORMATION SEARCHING SKILLS (GS220)
Instructor: : Dr. SALEH A. AL-BARIDI E-mail : albaridi@kfupm.edu.sa Telephone : 8603019 Office : Building 8, Room: 208 Office Hours : M & W 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
About GS 220
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Course Description: Information searching skills introduces the students to various search methods used in locating needed information in the Internet and the World Wide Web, in addition to the print based information. Students will receive practical training in planning and implementing search strategies for locating, retrieving, downloading, evaluating and citing information subject guides, search engines, directories, virtual libraries and the library catalog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Required textbook: Ackermann, Ernest, and Karen Hartman, Searching & Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web, 5th Edition, Wilsonville, Oregon: Franklin, Beedle & Associates, inc., 2010. Grade Policy: Major Exam I 15% Major Exam II 20% Final Exam 25% Project I 10% Project II 15% Homework 10% Participation 5% Course Outline: 1. Course Introduction 2. Review of the KFUPM Library: Organization of the collection (LC Classification & LC Subject Headings, the OPAC (e-library) and the electronic databases). 3. Database Organization: Resources of Databases, Keyword Searching & Boolean Searching, etc.
4. Literature Evolution: the Observation stage, the Hypothesis
stage, the Experimental stage and the Conclusion stage.
5. Literature Sources: (a) Primary Literature Sources: Periodicals,
Research Reports, Conference Proceedings and Reports of Scientific
Expeditions, Official Publications, Patents, Standards, Trade
Literature, Theses and Dissertations. (b) Secondary Literature Sources:
Indexing & Abstracting Services, Review of Progress, and
Reference Books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, tables, and
formularies), Treatises, Monographs, Textbooks etc...
6. Introduction to Internet & the World Wide Web (WWW):
Hypertext, Hypermedia, Key Terms & Concepts, and Information Sources on
the Web.
7. Managing & Using Information from the Internet & the Web: Various
types of Files on the Internet and the Web, Observing Copyright
Guidelines, Capturing & Using Text, Images, & Data from the Web & the
Internet, Capturing and Downloading Statistical Tables, Procedures &
Steps for Managing Internet & Web Information.
8. Using the WWW for Research: Browsing the WWW by Using
Directories, Virtual Libraries, Search Engines, Boolean Search
Operators, and Phrase Searching. Using Several Search Engines
Simultaneously, Using Meta-search Tools.
9. Directories and Virtual Libraries: Characteristics of
Directories, browsing and Searching Directories and Virtual Libraries.
10. Search Strategies for Search Engines: Search Engine Databases,
Search Features & Output Features Common to most Search Engines, and the
Ten Steps of Basic Search Strategy. Using Northern Light, Info-Seek, &
Meta Crawler. Search Strategies in HotBot, AltaVista and Excite.
11. Specialized Databases: Overview of Specialized Databases, How
to Find Free Specialized Databases.
12. Searching Library Catalogs & Summon: Overview of the Development of the
Online Catalogs, Characteristics of the Online Catalogs, federated and unified search.
13. Finding E-mail Addresses: Phone Numbers, and Maps: Advantages
and Disadvantages of Using Such Services, Privacy and Ethics Issues.
Keeping Current: White Pages and Map Web Services.
14. Evaluating Information Found on the WWW: Reasons to Evaluate,
Guidelines for Evaluation, and Information about Evaluating Resources.
15. Citing Web and Internet Resources: URL Formats, Styles for
Citing Web Resources, and Information about Citing Electronic Resources. |