UIR Reflection
After so many UIR lessons, i felt that i have gained a lot of knowledge from it and i have applied these skills in my daily life. With the help of the lecture notes and the practical sheets, I am able to complete my assignments easily.

Some of the knowledge was the use of internet tools, different types of search engines, similarity and differences of the search engines, the criteria of defining a good website, categories of internet resources, and purpose of internet resources and evaluation of internet resources.

Though UIR is a CDS subject with a total of 3CUs, I feel that it is as important as my core module. I chose UIR as my CDS because I believed that it is useful to my life. This is because in our life, we use internet almost everyday so UIR helps me to have a better understanding on using the internet for various purposes for example; business, entertainment, information etc.

I have used some of the UIR skills to do my project research. For example, in the past I tend to get my information based on one internet resource using the same search engine (Yahoo). After I was equipped with the UIR skills, I started using other search engine like Meta search engine (meta crawler) or subject directories (Galaxy) to do my research. And the outcome of my search results has increased and hence my search area has broadened. It has helped to save a lot of time in researching and also made my work more efficient.

UIR is fun and also has an enjoyable interaction with friends online. There is E-lectures, E-learning, online discussion forum, blogs and Wikis. The blog is a way of interaction, it does not use just for personal spaces however it can be use to spread information too. As for Wikis, it can use as an online discussion forum.

Lastly, I personally think that Using Internet as Research Tools (UIR) is a very meaningful and useful subject and I would recommend this CDS to my other friends. I want my friends to enjoy learning UIR, interact with one another and hopefully they learn something and apply the knowledge or skills to their daily life or even school work. =)




Class test 2 was not good enough. i got 4/15 which is a fail. I realised that although it is a small class test, we still need to study the lectures notes for understanding. If not, you won't be able to answer the questions easily.

The APA citation style helps us to know the detailed information of the internet resources that we have found. Information like the author, date of publisation, title of the webpage etc.

Finally, this is the last practical of Using Internet as Research Tools(UIR), i have learnt alot on the research tools, evaluation skills and analying skills. I believe this can help me in the future. When i go out to work and need to do some market research, i can apply the skills taught in UIR in my research.

Take care everyone. =)




The online UIR-RAWKZ WIKI is a good website for discussing on various topics.
I can post my comments on the chosen topic on the website.
I can also reply comments on what my group members have posted. And it is where my group members can each give comments or edit the wetpaint as and when they like.
And overall, all these comments are being collated together as a group.
We can take a look at what the other groups have commented on their chosen topic.
These is a group learning process for all of us. I personally feel that it is very useful as it is like a discussion forum where people can gives their views and opinions.




Evaluation(second internet resource)
It is discussion on the impact of global terrorism and also how is has affected businesses in the future.Take example from the terrorist attacks at September 11, it has resulted the U.S economy and the world economy to fall badly.Terrorism also raises the risk and cost of doing businesses, whether its business is diplomacy, manufacturing, or sales. Thus, it has caused an impact on the business community. This website is from U.S government website. It is remarked by Anbassador Francis.X, Taylor, Coordinator for Counterterrorism. This information was released on March 14, 2002. This website has provided a clear description on the topic that my group has chosen.The website link:: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/8839.htm

The online group discussion forum is like a summary of what i have done. Basically, internet has help me obtain information fast without going to library to look to books. It has helped me in my project research too. It also help us to discuss with one another on the question given. Different people has different opinion and we can take them as references.
I feel that this E-learning activities is very effective in aiding in our learning process.




Evaluation of internet resources
Topic: Discuss the impact of terrorism on world economy
Title of internet resource: Terrorism and World economy
URL: http://www.bizcovering.com/E-Commerce/Terrorism-and-World-Economies.52503
The website has all the relevant information to my topic. It shows the pre and post economy before and after September 11, 2001. It provides comprehensive information on the impact of terrorism on World economy.

This website is not an authoritative source. It is written by a popular writer, Mr Yar. The information that he has provided has accurate facts like the impact of September 11th on the economy. There is researched information like the positive growth rate of 2.6% and general growth rate of 1.5% to 2.0% of the world economy. This website is from the writer’s opinion which is based on his research and facts. However, this website does not provide clear background information on the writer, Mr Yap.

Overall, the quality of the website is good. First impression to the website is that it is well presented and well arranged. Clear heading and relevant information provided. The words are clear and have no grammatical, spelling and typographical errors. It is easily accessible as it does not require any registration or log-ins.

In conclusion, i feel that with the template given, i know which internet resources are useful and factual. This is because some may not be accurate and are not up-to-date. With the analyzing skills on the internet resources, i am able to search resources better than before.




These two practical are on the comparison and evaluation on search effectiveness.

The different search facilities are the search engine (Yahoo), Meta search engine (Meta crawler) and subject directory (Galaxy). These search facilities have different characteristics.
The two similar characteristics are that they produce relevant results to the keywords used. Their formats of results are the same too. The design of the webpage is clear.
Whereas the differences are the size of results displayed.

I have found that galaxy has some weaknesses compared to the rest of the search engines.
Galaxy is more complicated than the rest. Galaxy has a very wide search areas compared to the rest, this resulted the irrelevancies of information. Hence, i have a hard time finding the information i need.

In conclusion, Yahoo search engine is considered one of the best search engines because of its simple and clear design of webpage and their specified and relevant results.

This activity has help me understand that there are different types of search engines not just yahoo search engine or google search engine which are commonly being used. After this activity, i believe this will help in my project research as i will have a broad areas of searching information.

Ng kok lip
Temasek Polytechnic
Financial Business Informatics
18
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