Welcome to Study Hall! The Internet can be a great resource as long as you know how to use it. Here you will find tips for effective web research to help you get the most out of the Internet.
Maya
Cyber Defender & Databank Supervisor
Because of her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Maya started out as a librarian. While she loved her job, she wanted to do more to help protect people.
Since Cyber Villains such as Ms. Information and Elvirus can corrupt websites and the information on them, Maya teaches people to protect themselves by using caution when visiting websites and avoiding sites that are not trustworthy.
Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime
- Chinese Proverb
Anything chocolate
Interests:Browsing bookstores, baking
March 26 2008
Collecting Intel
Alan brought back with him a ton of new information on the Cyber Villains. I am still entering it into our Databank. With this we should finally be able to defend ourselves against Cyber Villain attacks. Everyone, when you get the chance, be sure to thank Alan for what he did for us.
posted by Maya
topic: Miscellaneous
March 25 2008
Finding Reliable Sites: Is this Fact or Opinion?
Anyone can put information on the Internet, and many people use their Web sites to express their opinions on certain matters. When you're considering using a Web site as a resource, you need to determine if it is stating facts or someone's opinion. Let's go back to my report on presidents. Here's an example of a fact versus an opinion:
Fact: George Washington was the first president of the United States.
Opinion: George Washington was the greatest president of the United States
Facts are known to be true and can be used to prove a point. Opinions are what someone thinks about a topic. Instead of proving a point, they can only agree or disagree with it. Once you've determined that a site has a credible author (See Finding Reliable Sites: Who wrote this?), a few things can help you to decide if it is fact or opinion. A site's information could be opinion if:
- It only presents one side of the story, or key information about the topic is left out
- It is paid for by an organization that has a specific position on the topic, or the author has something to gain by only presenting one side of the story
- It does not cite other resources for the information presented
- It presents an extreme view of the topic
- It does not state the reasons for why it is presenting information on the topic
Reports, like my report on presidents, usually focus on facts, but sometimes it's necessary to research opinions on a topic as well. If you're unsure whether you should be researching facts or opinions about your topic, check with your teacher.
posted by Maya
topic: Finding Reliable Sites
March 20 2008
Location Verified!
After that latest round of inputs, the Databank finally kicked out a location for where they are keeping Alan. There is even a note from Alan saying, 'Come get me!' I forwarded all of the relevant information to Officer Ward, so he could finalize his plans for the rescue. Hang in there Alan. We'll have you back soon!
posted by Maya
topic: Miscellaneous
March 6 2008
Finding Alan
The full resources of the Databank are now devoted to finding Alan. Please, if anyone has any information that might be useful please use the closest computer kiosk to enter it into the Databank. If we get enough information we will be able to start seeing the patterns and those will point us to where the Cyber Villains are keeping Alan.
posted by Maya
topic: Miscellaneous
March 4 2008
Research Tip: Avoid Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you use someone else's ideas or words without acknowledging them or giving them credit. To learn more about it, visit Officer Ward's post on Plagiarism as a Cyber Crime.
To avoid plagiarism, you must give the author credit whenever you:
- Refer to someone's idea or theory
- Use any facts or statistics that are not common knowledge
- Use images, graphs, or charts created by someone else
- Quote or paraphrase (changing around a few words or changing the order of the original author's sentences) another person's words or work
To correctly cite your source, you must indicate which part of your work is taken from another's. When your source is a book, you indicate the author of the book and the page number in your citation and include quotation marks if it is a direct quote.
If your source is from the Internet, the same rules apply though the way you cite it may vary depending on which part of the site you are using and what information about the site is available.
It's also a good idea to get the permission of the site's owner before using their work.
Learn more about how to correctly cite a Web site at the Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide.