Internet Course Guide

Exercises 1 to 5 | Exercises 6 to 8 | Exercises 9 to 10 | Exercises 11 to 15 | Exercises 16 to 22

Exercises 1 to 5

Exercise 1 related to Lesson 1 -- Introduction to the browser Explorer

Using Internet Explorer, go to the ten Website addresses listed below. The challenge will be to type in the addresses (Uniform Resource Locators) carefully. One wrong letter, and you will not get to your destination. Capitalization counts -- so don't use lower case when upper case is shown.

On a separate piece of paper, write the url of each site, the title of each site as it appears in the browser's title bar, and a couple of sentences describing the content of the site. If an address doesn't work no matter how carefully you type it, just write "The page cannot be displayed" An example is done for you.

Example:

URL: http://www.audiemurphy.com/welcome.htm
Title: Audie's Welcome
Content: Biographical information about Audie Murhpy, the most decorated U.S. soldier in WWII who became a leading Hollywood actor.

Now it's your turn for these addresses (URLs).

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/
http://www.broadcast.com/radio/location/
http://www.education-world.com/
http://www.globalcomputing.com/universy.html
http://home.digitalcity.com/tampabay/
http://www.blarg.net/%7Echarlatn/Depression.html
http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/bios/bios.html
http://starcreations.com/abstract/laughriot/index.htm
http://www.cbs.medscape.com/medscape/p/G_library/drugdirectory.asp

Exercise 2 related to Lesson 1 -- Identifying items in Explorer's toolbar and menu

On separate paper, give the purpose of the toolbar button within the black rectangles found below in part of Internet Explorer's menu and toolbar. You can leave out Help which is done for you in the example.

To figure out what some of the selected items are used for, you may have to look at the Resources given at the bottom of Lesson 1. Looking only at the Lesson 1 text alone will not give you all the answers you need. As in many of these exercises, you will have to get your answers from reading the Resource-Websites for each lesson.

Example: Help -- gives you information on how to use the Internet Explorer program. Includes an index, table of contents, and a search option.

Exercise 3 related to Lesson 2 -- Using addresses and links

See the list of Suggested Web Sites for lots of practice in using links. The Suggested Web Sites list is at http://www.gordonrichard.com/curric/categor.htm You'll start off with a list of Web Site categories. Clicking on each category will take you to examples of sites within each category. Don't forget to use your browser's Back button to return to the category list. Go to at least twenty sites on the list. Practice using the Back and Forward buttons to move among sites you have already visited.

On a separate piece of page titled Exercise 3, list the titles of each site that you visited along with one sentence telling what the site is mainly about. The title of the site will appear in the blue title bar of your browser -- in this case, St. Petersburg Times Online.

Exercise 4 related to Lesson 2 -- More on using addresses and links

Look at a minimum of twenty sites in the Suggested Web Site list at http://www.gordonrichard.com/curric/categor.htm. Make them all Favorites. Write short reviews of three of the sites.

Be sure your review includes (1) the title and URL of the home page, (2) the purpose of the Web site, (3) your reaction to the site. Your reaction, from fifty to eighty words, may include comments on what you liked or disliked about the site. Be as specific as possible.

As you write your short review, ask yourself if your comments would help someone decide whether the site was worth exploring.

Example A

Title: The Baseball Almanac. URL: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/
Purpose: To provide fans with information on the history, personalities, and statistics of baseball.
Reaction: This site is like having a twenty-volume baseball encyclopedia on your own computer. Much more detail here than you would ordinarily expect in an almanac. I was especially interested in The Legendary List of great baseball heroes and unforgettable events in the game's history. The site was easy to navigate because of the menu along the left side of each page (file) in the site. The text was easily legible and well written.

Example B

Title: Purdue Online Writing Lab. URL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Purpose: To provide help in improving writing skills not only for a Purdue student, but also for students anywhere.
Reaction: This site is packed with tutorials and exercises to help improve spelling, sentence structure and punctuation. I found most valuable the help on resume and cover letter writing. The home page has a crisp, clean look with only one picture that allows for quick downloading. The dark print on a white background makes it easy reading.

Exercise 5 related to Lesson 3 -- Selecting your browser's home page

This exercise will give you practice (1) changing your browser's Home page and (2) returning to your Home page by using the Home button on the Explorer toolbar.

Click the Home button on your browser's toolbar. This click should take you to your browser's current Home page -- that Web page that Internet Explorer first visits whenever you open your browser while connected to the Internet. The Home page, too, is the Web page your browser will return to whenever you click on the Home button.
Let's change your current Home page by going to http://www.gordonrichard.com/curric/categor.htm. This page is titled Suggested Websites.
Now make the Suggested Websites page your new browser Home page by following the directions in Lesson 3.
Then click on five links in the Suggested Websites list taking you to other sites.
After going to five sites, click on your Home button to return to the Suggested Websites list.
Select another site as your Home page, choosing one of the links in the Suggested Websites list.
Again, go to five more sites and return to your new Home page.
Finally, change your Home page for the rest of this course to: http://www.gordonrichard.com/Internet/lessons/index.html