part 3
Limiting
Searches

Searching
----Directories
---------Exercise
----Search Engines
------Using AltaVista
----------Part 1
----------Part 2
----------Part 3
----------Exercise

Writing a Citation for an Electronic Reference

D230 Online Learning

Verifying WWW Information

In this session you will learn:

Know Your Source !

One useful way to limit a search is by the Top Domain.
This means that you select .com, .net, .edu, .gov, .org, .mil or .country.

AltaVista allows you to decided which top domains your research will include. Or you can decide which top domains to exclude

Knowing a little about the top domains may help you make a choice. At one time top domain guaranteed that a web site belonged to a specific group. Recently the meaning a each top domain has been weakened by misuse

Be aware that the top domains are a subdivision of US web sites. the top domain .us is not normally used. On the other hand non-US countries use country codes which is also useful in limiting a search top of page

Top Domain	Users
.com	originally for business; now used by anyone, anywhere
.net	originally a domain for groups involved in maintaining and developing the internet; its use has weakened; often if .com is not available a user will use .net
.org	miscellaneous organizations; many nonprofit organizations
.gov	domain used by the US federal government
.edu	domain use by 4 year accredited colleges; grades k-12 us .k12.<state>.us
.mil	US military
country codes	each country has its own 2 letter code Ex: Canada(.ca), Mexico(.mx) Germany(.de), Japan(.jp), Russia(.ru)