Search the Web for Economics Information
The Internet is an invaluable source for information on an ever-widening range of topics-including economics. However, searching the Internet for information can be a time-consuming and frustrating experience. Key to unlocking the door to the World Wide Web is understanding its language, how it "thinks" and how it is set up. This section contains several easy-to-follow tips for searching the Internet more effectively and also features lists of sites that will lead you to information on economics topics as well as other classroom resources.

Search Tip

Since each search engine has sites indexed that other engines do not, different search engines can yield very different results for a particular subject search. For a helpful comparison of search engines, visit searchengineshowdown.com for relative size, speed and other statistics.

Search Engines
Exploring the Internet is like going on a trip-you first need to decide your mode of transportation. On the Internet, this means selecting a search engine. The web is a collection of more than 3 billion independently operated websites. There is no librarian who could constantly organize and catalog it. Keeping track of what's on the web is the job of search engines like Yahoo, Google and Lycos, which help users find information by navigating the web for them.

Instead of using card catalogs and the Dewey decimal system found in libraries, search engines use computer programs called "spiders" to search for new websites to add to their databases. Each individual search engine database contains only a small number of the possible 3 billion websites. No single search engine has the entire Internet indexed.

Time-Saving Searching Techniques

• Be specific: If you are looking for information about the market price of corn, type "corn market price" into the search engine instead of "price." A more specific search will keep you from having to sort through extra information about prices in general or prices of other commodities.
• Use the singular form of words: Some search engines do not automatically look for the singular form of a word if you type in the plural version of the word. For example, if you type "prices" some search engines will only return pages that contain the word "prices" but not pages that only contain the word "price." On the other hand, most search engines will search for plural versions of singular words. For example, if you search for "price," the engine will return pages that contain the word "price" and pages with the word "prices."

• Search Tip

  The more specific your search terms, the more narrow and targeted your search results will be.

  Use lower case letters: If you type in lower case, most search engines will return results that are in both upper and lower case. However if you type in upper case, some search engines will only return pages that use the term in upper case.
• Try alternate spellings or terms: Web pages are created by people not computers, and some people may not proofread their pages very well. If your search is a word that is easy to misspell, try searching using the incorrect spelling. You may find new pages with good information, even though the topic is spelled incorrectly. Similarly, alternative terms for the same concept can yield new results. For example, try searching "complement" and "complementary good" to find information about complementary goods.
• Use uncommon words: The word "customer" will yield pages and pages of customer service policies from companies. However, the word "consumer" will return webpages containing information that is more focused on the economics concept.
• Boolean search operators: Boolean terms, or operators, help to refine searches by narrowing the search engine parameters. Always check the hints provided in your chosen search engine to ensure that you enter Boolean terms correctly. A tutorial for Boolean terms can be found at http://www.albany.edu/library/internet/boolean.html. The chart below provides a few examples of how Boolean terms work.

Search Tip

A web address or URL never contains spaces between words. It is always one "word."

The Anatomy of a Web Address
The World Wide Web (WWW) is the graphic part of the Internet. Specific pages of the World Wide Web are accessed through URL (Uniform Resource Locator) addresses. For example, the URL address for the Producing Ohio website is http://www.producingohio.org.

• All WWW addresses begin with "http://"
• Some web addresses have "www" after the "http://" but others do not.
• The third part of the address is the name of the website. (In the Producing Ohio example, the name is "producingohio")
• The final extension indicates the type of organization that owns the website. (The Producing Ohio extension is ".org.")

Webspeak: What do Those Error Messages Mean?
Here is a list of what Internet error codes mean and what you can do to solve the problem:

• 400 Bad Request: The server doesn't recognize the URL you entered. Double-check the address to make sure you typed it in correctly.
• 403 Forbidden Pages: For some reason, you are not allowed to view the page for the URL you entered. If you've registered with a website that requires a password and still get this message, check to see that you've typed in the password correctly.
• 404 Not Found: The page you're searching for has either been deleted or its address has been changed. You can try deleting portions of the URL, starting at the end and see what comes up.
• File Contains No Data: There are many reasons you could get this error, including the possibility that the page just doesn't exist there. Try again later to make sure.
• Failed DNS Lookup: You've typed the URL incorrectly or the web server you're trying to reach is down or busy. Double-check the spelling of the URL. If the URL is correct, try the site again at a different time of day.
• 503 Service Unavailable: This is similar to the Failed DNS Lookup error. The page is there, but it isn't accessible at the moment. Hitting the "Reload" or the "Refresh" buttons a few times may solve the problem.
• Server Returned Extended Information: This indicates that the host server for the website is busy with too many other users at that moment. Try the website again later.

Addressing Problems 101
If the web address you type in doesn't work, a majority of the time the problem will be due to a typing error. Double-check to be sure you have it typed exactly as you see it listed. Some common errors in typing and solutions to addressing problems include:

• Simple keystroke errors: No one is a perfect typist, make sure you have no spelling or punctuation errors in the address.
• No spaces: Web addresses do not have spaces between words or punctuation. For this reason, the URL will look like one, single word.
• Case sensitivity: Many URLs are case sensitive. Type in the upper and lower case letters exactly as you see them listed.
• WWW: Not all URLs have "www" after the "http://" in the address. If an address doesn't work, you can try either deleting or adding "www" to the address.
• The slash: Sometimes putting a slash (/) at the end of an address will make it work.
• Switch browsers: If the website comes up but the layout looks strange, try switching browsers. The two most popular browsers are Internet Explorer® and Netscape Navigator®.
• Page loads very slowly: If a website is loading at a rate slower than normal, hit the "Stop" button and then the "Reload" button on the browser. This will force your ISP (Internet service provider) to find a new path between your computer and the website's server.
• Delete the last segment: In long web addresses, try chopping off the end of the address to the previous slash. For example, if the URL http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/distance.htm/ doesn't work, delete the final segment "distance.htm/". The new address to try would then be http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/. You may need to do this several times to the same address to get the website to work. Keep deleting end segments until you get to the three- or two-letter extension after the site's name, in this case, the ".edu".
• Getting stuck on a page: The Back button is the second most used navigation feature, but some web designers deliberately program their site that way. If you try to return to a previous page, but the site won't let you leave, try one of these tips. In Windows, put your cursor on the back button and right-click. This gives you a submenu of pages. In Macs, hold the back button down for a few seconds and this will bring up the menu.

Copyright Law in Cyberspace
The need to protect intellectual property has always existed, perhaps even more so in the easy-access world of the electronic age. Many website owners will grant permission for you to use their information or websites in public and educational settings. Non-profit use of websites will many times fall under fair use guidelines. There are a number of excellent websites on copyright law for teachers, including:

• http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
• http://www.spa.org/piracy/
• http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/neoimc/neopage/Multimedia.html
• http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm
• http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/distance.htm
• http://www.goehner.com/piracyed.htm
• http://www.cciw.com/content/plagiarism.html

Citing Electronic Resources
The following websites provide information on how to cite electronics resources, such as websites, CD-Roms and emails:

• http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/neoimc/neopage/citinginfo.htm
• http://www.connectedteacher.com/newsletter/citeintres.asp
• http://www.NoodleTools.com/noodlebib

Doing research?
Here are four lists of great sites-chock full of interesting information on economics and other topics of interest to teachers:

Resources for Evaluating Websites

• http://www.cyberbee.com/guide1.html
• http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/criteria.html
• http://www.classroom.com/edsoasis/Evaluation.html
• http://www.classroom.com/resource/articles
• http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/pres/design/rubric1.html
• http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html
• http://www.imcpl.lib.in.us/evaluate.htm
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalQuestions.html
• http://milton.mse.jhu.edu:8001/research/education/net.html
• http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/faculty/gwilkinson/EvalForm.pdf
• For exceptional children: http://www.cast.org/ (guidelines for designing accessible websites)

Resources for Integrating Websites into Lesson Plans

• http://www.classroomconnect.com
• http://www.cyberbee.com
• http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~hixson/index/
• http://pc65.frontier.osrhe.edu/hs/science/odla.htm
• http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html
• http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/
• http://198.234.46.69/prof_outcomes/