Welcome to the labs. This is your chance to practice the digital literacies you will need for a successful academic career, both in the Foundation Year and beyond.

Tips for successful labs:

• You have an 45 minutes to work on the lab: make use of that time.
• There is a group of postgraduates to help you. They are here to help you if you are stuck. Please attempt to solve problems yourself, but if you are truly stuck please ask for help!
• Make sure you save your work regularly. Save it in a place where you can find it and open it again next week. Test this by saving your file, closing the program and open it again. If you need help doing this, consult a postgrad or the iSolutions Personal files help page.

YOUR TASK

In today's lab, you will be practicing researching on the Web. Even if you are proficient at navigating a few common sites, you may not be prepared for doing in-depth research of a topic, using a variety of sources and acknowledging them as you must.

You will be using the Hartley Library ECS webpage during this activity. There are links to lots of useful resources from here (including the Internet Detective activity which you should attempt outside of class), as well as links to the most relevant databases for you to use as an Computer Applications student.

1. Click this link to download the search planner worksheet (opens in Edshare in a new window - you may need to Login with your University of Southampton username and password). Fill it in using keywords that are relevant to your given topic.
2. Using your completed planner:
   • Search for sources using just Google. Make a note of how many hits are returned and what general type or quality of information is returned. Record the details of at least one source so that you can find it again.
   • Now try searching again with the same terms in your planner but using Google Scholar. Note the differences in the number and types of hits returned that you get by using the same searches. Record the details of at least one source so that you can find it again.
   • Go to the Hartley Library ECS page and click on WebCat in the right hand menu. Use your search terms for a third time in the Library catalog and record the details of at least one source that you can find again.
   • Lastly, navigating from the Library ECS pages, select 'Databases and Indexes' and choose a database and enter your search terms for a final time. Again, record the details of at least one source that you can find again.
3. You should now have a list of at least 4 sources of information. Did you record the details accurately? You will find out now as you need to download the evaluation criteria worksheet (opens in new window) and find those sources again to evaluate them.
4. Now that you have located and evaluated your sources, put all of your information together into an annotated list. Put this list in your Logbook, notebook, a Notepad .txt file, a Microsoft Word .doc file or however you are comfortable recording information. You will need it again next week.
5. If you have recorded your information digitally, save your file in My Documents and back it up on your USB drive (if you have one).

Need some extra help? Try these useful links/resources

• Using search engines tutorial (Study Skills Toolkit)
• Using Webcat (Hartley Library tutorial, opens in new window)
• Check out the "Teach yourself... how to search smarter" section of the library information skills section:
  • Literature Searching basics (2 minute video)
  • Evaluating web resources (6 minute video)