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Internet Search Tips
Studying insects and spiders is a wonderful opportunity to use internet search engines. The internet has a lot of basic information about insects and spiders in your region and around the world. Students may already be familiar with search engines, but need some help learning to refine searches, dig deeper into search results, and to use search tools like directories. Here are three useful search engines: www.google.com www.yahooligans.com www.yahoo.com Be Specific! That is the key to getting good results. To get in deeper, get more specific. Be persistent, and you will be amazed at the details you can find. Common Name Begin with the common name of the insect - you might get useful results. Some names, like ladybug, will also get a lot of confusing results. Try to find introductory information, and especially the scientific name. That's your next step. Scientific Name Searching on the scientific name - genus & species - will give you detailed results; sometimes the results lead to research by professional entomologists. Get More Specific For the answer you just can't find, try searching with the genus, species and unknown title, like Pieris rapae range. Confirm Your Information The internet is not always accurate! It is important for students to learn to evaluate and confirm information found online. A good rule of thumb is to confirm key data on three different websites. The source of the information is another clue - if the information is from a university, park service or conservation website, it is more likely to be accurate. You might want to combine internet research with library research in encyclopedias and other reference books. |
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