Concord Monitor (2010): Different Ways to Research

Sub-title- A Project About “Searching” for the Correct Information.

First Name L.I:_Lily B_________________________

Date: March 14-18, 2016________________________

Color Group: Yellow__________

This is a quiz that was found in the Sunday January 3 2010 Concord Monitor newspaper…. Answers are there, too. You need to read the question, and… if you KNOW the correct answer, that’s good… but you must still VERIFY that correct answer. And write out your source for that correct answer. And, MOST importantly, I want to you also write out your thinking process- especially for the questions you do NOT know the answer to. Can you eliminate any of the answers? How? And how did you search for the correct answer? Did you search the QUESTION, or did you search the possible answers?

Write it out! Be complete. A good paragraph per answer is what we are after here…

• Use Google AND Bing and at least 2 other search engines... any search engine you desire. In your paragraphs, write down which search engine you used.

• Use Search Terms that make sense. Do NOT just type/copy the entire question. Use Search Terms. Use search terms that make sense. In your paragraph, write down what search terms you used.

• Use Advanced Search methods, or at least look for .edu sites, .gov sites and .com sites. At LEAST these 3 types of sites. You can have others, such as .org and .net. In your paragraph, write down how you searched for different domains (such as .edu, .gov .com, etc. Those are called “domains”.)

• And... write down the correct answer in the paragraph. Perhaps that is the last sentence in your paragraph.

ow

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1. What are the three places that make up the points of the Bermuda Triangle?

1. Bahamas, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico
2. Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Tortola
3. Miami, Bermuda, Puerto Rico

I am going to use the search engine Google. I’m using it because it’s the one that I use the most often and I’m used to it.

I think the correct answer is letter c. because that’s what I’ve heard for an answer. When I searched I searched Bermuda triangle location. I typed in the box and hit the enter key. Multiple different sites popped up with many snippets from each. Scrolling, I chose a .com page (meaning it had ads to make money because .com means commercial). On this page, I found the map with the correct answer. http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/bermudat.htm the correct answer is c. Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico.

2. Recife is the popular, pretty capital of Pernambuco state in what country?

1. Italy
2. Spain
3. Brazil

I’m going to use the search engine Bing. I’m using this because I don’t use it often, it was the first one to come to mind, and it’s another popular search engine.

I think the correct answer is Italy because it sound Recife sounds Italian (at least to me, not sure why) and I honestly have only heard of Recife a few times. In the search bar, I typed Recife and then the search button. Bing is set up slightly different than Google but it’s similar enough for it to make sense. When it loaded, I got 14 million results but I only scrolled through the first page of snippets. About midway down the page, I found a .gov site and found the answer. http://wikitravel.org/en/Recife the correct answer is c. Brazil

3. Historic Nara, Japan, celebrates a huge anniversary in 2010. How old is the country’s first capital city?

1. 570 years (in 2010)
2. 1,300 years (in 2010)
3. 4,000 years (in 2010)

For this question, I’m going to use Duck Duck Go as a search engine. I’m using this because it’s popular and I couldn’t think of another one.

I believe the answer is b) 1,300 (in 2010) because Japan is a lot older than America and it’s not too old. I’m going to use the keywords Nara, Japan anniversary because it makes sense to me to use that. After I wrote in the keywords, I hit enter and I didn’t get a number for how many results came up. Without scrolling, I found what I would call a reliable source, the New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/travel/03headsup.html?_r=0. This article is called “Happy 1,300^th to Nara, Japan.” The correct answer is b) 1,300 years (in 2010) That would mean as of now, Nara, Japan is just over 1,300 years old.

4. The Northern Pacific Gyre lies in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and the west coast of the United States. What does it contain?

1. A huge pod of an estimated 2,000 endangered gray whales
2. A giant debris field of garbage trapped in a spinning circle
3. An underground sea mountain 7 miles tall

For this, I’m using ixquick because I haven’t used it yet and Mr. Woolner said it was a good one to use.

I’m not sure what the answer to this question is so I guess I’ll have to find out now. When I search I’m going to use the keywords North Pacific Gyre because they seem like a good set of words that will help me find the right information easily. Much like Duck Duck Go, I didn’t get a number of results at the top of the page. Close to the top of the page, I found a National Geographic article and found the answer. http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/ The answer is b) A giant debris field of garbage trapped in a spinning circle.

5. This year (in 2010) a mosaic of an angel was discovered under the floor of the Hagia Sophia. Where and what is the Hagia Sophia?

1. Istanbul, Turkey. It’s a museum that previously was a Byzantine Christian Church and a mosque.
2. Luxembourg. It’s a cathedral built to honor St. Sophia, the country’s patron saint.
3. Mexico City. It’s a traditional market where the image of the angel is said to have healing powers.

We are doing this question very, very, very differently; we are going to compare search engines. I’m going to use Google, Duck Duck Go, ixquick, and Webcrawler.

I have no clue what the answer to this question is and I’ve never heard of this angel. For search terms, I’m going to use Haiga Sophia. In a few of the search boxes, other popular searches began to pop up. Google has a number at the top of the page to tell me how many results I got but Duck Duck Go, Webcrawler, and ixquick don’t have those numbers. These three also came up with travel sites first. On Google, I found this site: http://www.hagiasophia.com/ and the correct answer is a) Istanbul, Turkey. It’s a museum that previously was a Byzantine Christian Church and a mosque.

6. If you want to go whitewater rafting on the Kampar River, where do you have to go?

1. Wheeling, West Virginia.
2. Gopeng, Malaysia
3. Johannesburg, South Africa

For this question, I’m going to use Google as my search engine.

We are going to do something different but similar. We are going to limit the search using “site:” tricks.

I think the answer is b. Gopeng, Malaysia because I’m pretty sure that this is where the Kampar River is. For keywords in the search bar, I used Kampar river location site:*edu and that made it so only .edu site came up on the results, making it so I only got 1,500 results. I clicked on multiple links and couldn’t fine the answer do I got rid of the site:*edu. Other than that, I used the same keywords and found that the answer is b. Gopeng, Malaysia on http://www.surfertoday.com/travel/5568-exploring-the-tidal-bores-of-indonesia

1. Most tourists love Devonshire cream tea – scones, clotted cream and raspberry jam with tea. But where in England is Devonshire?

1. In dairy country east of London
2. Southwest England
3. Near the Scottish border

On this question, I’m going to use Google again as a search engine and advance the search.

I believe that the answer is a. in dairy country east of London because that just sounds mostly right in my head. For keywords, I’m going to use Devonshire location site:*com because I think that there will be more answers that come up. I couldn’t find the answer with the keywords I have because they were too broad so I’m going to retry by making Devonshire into Devonshire, UK. After looking for what felt like ages, I went onto maps to look at the location and I found that the real answer is b. Southwest England.

2. What and where are the Adirondacks?

1. The Amish region in Indiana where craftsmen make chairs
2. Mountain range in New York state
3. American Indian reservations in the Florida Everglades

Again, to answer this, I’m going to use Google as my search engine and advance the search.

I think the answer is a. the Amish region in Indiana where craftsmen make chairs. I think this because that seems right to me. As keywords, I’m going to use Adirondacks location site:*org so the results will only be .org sites. I found that my answer was wrong and the Adirondacks are actually in New York making the correct answer b. Mountain range in New York state on the site http://programs.wcs.org/northamerica/Wild-Places/Adirondacks.aspx . I also found that the Adirondacks is bigger than Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and the Everglades all combined.

3. Most people just call the region the Caribbean, but what is its formal name?

1. The West Indies
2. The East Indies
3. The South Indies

I’m changing things up now and I’m going to use Duck Duck Go but still advance my search.

I think this answer is a. the West Indies because I’ve heard people call the Caribbean this before. To find the answer, I’m going to us the keywords Caribbean region full name. To refine my search, I’m going to use site:*com. Most of the sites that came up in my results were to Wikipedia so that’s what I used to find the correct answer which is a. The West Indies. This is the link to the page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies

4. Almost all tourists who visit the Galapagos Islands leave for their trip from what city?

1. Quito, Ecuador
2. Santiago, Chile
3. La Paz, Bolivia

For this search, I’m going to use Google yet again for my search engine.

I have no idea what the answer is for this question but I’m going to find out soon. As keywords, I’m going to use popular airport to Galapagos Islands and filter using site:*com. The site that I used was a .com http://www.galapagosislandsspanishschool.com/how-to-get-to-galapagos.html and it kept mentioning Ecuador so I’d day that the answer is a. Quito, Ecuador, though I’m not 100 percent sure. To make sure, I looked at another site http://www.galapagosislands.com/galapagos-travel-information/galapagos-flights.html and it was for buying tickets. The first city that the site showed were out of Quito and many sites show that most popular things first. This made it so I was positive that Quito is where the almost all tourists leave for their trip from.

5. What was the United States’ first national park?

1. Great Smoky Mountain
2. Yellowstone
3. Yosemite

6. Of Hawaii’s six major islands, which is the smallest and least developed?

1. Lili’uokalani
2. Kauai
3. Lanai