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Internet 2 ILS 504 Spr 09 Okobi

Terry Wasserman

Internet Assignment #2

ILS 504 Spr 09

30 April 2008

Prof. Okobi
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Internet Search Questions

For each of the questions:

1. Show your analysis of the question, what type of question, what resource

2. Justify your choice of resource

3. Give the answer to the question

4. Give the URL of the answer. If the URL is one of the very long ones use

TinyURL to shorten the URL

5. Provide a screen shot if necessary

Questions

1. Business are classified under SIC Codes. What does SIC mean?

I analyzed this question as being a ready-reference question, one that would

necessitate an abbreviation dictionary-- I began this search by looking up SIC in an

abbreviations dictionary I was familiar with as being touted as a “best website of the

year” by the New York Public Library,www.abbreviations.com. Here, I found forty

definitions of SIC. Only two of them were listed under the business category and those

both had the same definition, Standard Industrial Classification.

2. I need a gazetteer for information on the Demographic and other types of information

about states in the US.

I anazlysed this question as a specific search question and immediately realized I

needed a gazetteer that would have the most recent US census information. I began

searching by going to www.bartleby.com, where I knew the old, reliable Columbia

Gazetteer is located—however, I quickly realized that their census data is from 1990. So,
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I then did a google search for ”census bureau demographics” and found two sites,

http://tinyurl.com/232j

and http://tinyurl.com/ufd9. The former site, at census.gov, was certainly very reliable, a

government site, but not terribly easy to use. The latter site, also at census.gov, provides

the same census information but in a more user-friendly way and with access to more

information.

3. I have just changed my living room carpet and my pet has stained it badly, can you find

me some information on stain removal?

This is not the first time I have performed this search, so I already knew about the

Humane Society page on pet stain removal. However, I began this search by analyzing

the question as a specific search question and realizing that this information would not be

found in an almanac or a dictionary or a directory or an encyclopedia or any of my stand-

by references. So, I did a google search for stain removal and found a new website,

http://ohioline.osu.edu/outside/stainrem.html. This is reliable, as it is from Ohio State

University, a university with a well-regarded veterinary program.

4. List some of the daily newspapers in Nigeria.

Knowing that most national and regional newspapers now maintain a presence on

the world wide web, I analysed the question as a ready reference question and chose a

google search as my best form of action. I used the search terms “newspaper dailies

Nigeria” and found a very useful site, a world-newspaper site that listed 28 Nigerian

newspapers and online news sources, http://tinyurl.com/c7hj97. The following are the 18
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daily newspapers available in Nigeria: Business Day, Daily Champion, Daily

Independent, Financial Standard, Guardian, Leadership, National Mirror, New Nigerian,

Next, Nigerian Tribune

Daily, Port Harcourt Telegraph, Punch, Sensor, Sun, The Tide, This Day, Times of

Nigeria (an online newspaper) and Vanguard.

5. Provide me with the front page news in New York Times on the day you were born.

This looks like a ready reference query, but it certainly took more than a minute or

two to answer. I began my search by checking the online New York Times archives, but

because I was born before 1980, I could not use the free New York Times index available

online as it only begins in 1980. However, at research branches of the New York Public

Library patrons have access to the entire corpus of the New York Times via ProQuest

database, from 1852 onwards. So, I was able to download the screen shot from their

database at the library.


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6. Who was the first female governor of any state in the U.S. that was elected to the post?

Born and bred in the State of Connecticut during her governorship, I knew the

answer was Ella Grasso of Connecticut—however, I began my search of this specific

search question in Wikipedia, a source I never use without another source as back-up due

to the sometimes questionable reliability of Wikipedia. Imagine my surprise when I

realized that Gov. Grasso was not the first female governor—it was Nellie Tayloe Ross of

Wyoming (though this makes sense, as when I visited Wyoming I remember learning that

Wyoming was the first state/territory to allow women to vote). I checked another site I’d

found in that google search, infoplease.com, and found confirmation that Nellie Tayloe

Ross was, in fact, the first elected female state governor (but just days later Texas

inaugurated their first female governor).


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