biosciences on the internet

on the Internet A Student’s Guide Georges Dussart Canterbury Christ Church, University College, UK JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide... Other Wiley Ed

on the Internet

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

on the Internet

A Student’s Guide

Georges Dussart

Canterbury Christ Church, University College, UK

JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

Copyright # 2002 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd,

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Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

Part 1 Teaching and learning in relation to the internet 21

1 Approaching the internet 231.1 Integrity and learning 231.1.1 Intellectual honesty 231.1.2 Assimilation 241.1.3 Why have we gone through a discussion on

mind expansion and cheating? 241.1.4 Not only the internet! 251.1.5 What to print, what to keep? A problem of

using the hardware 271.1.6 Save time and money 281.1.7 Don’t be tempted to use cheat sites 281.2 Managing files 291.2.1 How the computer works with files 291.2.2 File extensions 311.2.3 File managing 321.2.4 Tips on file handling 371.2.5 Multitasking 381.3 Self defence 411.3.1 Introduction 411.3.2 The need to be critical to identify the invalid 411.3.3 Malicious viruses 451.3.4 Innocuous viruses 451.3.5 Precaution checklist 46

2 Getting access to the internet 492.1 Introduction 49

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

2.2 Connecting up via an intranet 492.3 Connecting up independently 502.4 Connecting up via an internet service provider (ISP) 522.5 Browsers and general aspects of searching 522.6 The fundamentals of a web site 552.7 Bookmarks and Favorites 552.8 Your first search 582.8.1 Making a search – the client requests 582.8.2 and the server responds 592.8.3 Avoiding distractions 592.8.4 What is the composition of the web

address URL (uniform resource locator)? 612.8.5 Types of organisation which can be identified

from the URL 632.8.6 Error messages 64

3 Citation guidelines for the use of

internet materials by students 653.1 Introduction 653.2 Advice on citing and listing URLs 653.3 Ten commandments of citation 683.4 Some advice to tutors 693.4.1 Making contact with authors 693.4.2 Following up links in students’ work 703.4.3 Directing students to appropriate web sites 703.4.4 A caveat about exclusion 703.5 Placing your references in an assignment 713.6 Specifications for references 713.6.1 Citation of www, FTP, Gopher or Telnet sources 713.6.2 Email citation 723.7 Copyright and plagiarism 733.7.1 Introduction 733.7.2 Copyright 743.7.3 The need for prudence 743.7.4 URL references on plagiarism and copyright 75

4 Evaluation of software and web sites 774.1 Evaluating the mechanical aspects of a web site 774.2 Designing your own web site 784.3 Evaluating the intellectual content of a web site 794.4 Working backwards through a web address 804.5 Hidden URL web addresses and how to get round them 85

4.6 Academically reliable web sites 894.6.1 Academic journal web sites 894.6.2 Museum web sites 904.6.3 Learned society web sites 914.6.4 Newspapers, magazines and news services 924.6.5 Broadcasting institutions 934.6.6 Review journals 934.6.7 Bibliographic on-line services 954.6.8 Companion web sites 1014.6.9 Freely available back issues of major journals 1054.7 What kinds of literature sources will earn the

best credit with tutors at undergraduate level? 108

5 Search engines 1095.1 Types of search engine 1095.2 The logic of a search 1095.3 Search engines compared 1115.4 List of other search engines 1145.5 Analysing the results from a search engine (Google) 1155.6 Problems when the search engine does not reveal

the URL of the target site 116

6.1 Introduction 1196.2 Additional useful features of email 1206.3 Contacting experts 1216.4 Raptorial birds – a dialogue between enthusiasts 1236.5 Newsgroups and list servers 1256.5.1 Newsgroups 1266.5.2 Mailing lists 1276.6 Example of a group discussion – exposure to

ionising radiation and the onset of leukaemia 1296.7 Working off-line 1306.8 Caveats about email, newsgroups and lists 1306.9 Having a professional attitude 131

7 Approaches to preparing a biosciences assignment 1337.1 Introduction 1337.2 Getting started on the assignment 1337.3 Contexts and change-overs 1347.4 Good practice for avoiding catastrophe 136

7.5 Writing an essay 1377.5.1 The mediocre approach 1377.5.2 The efficient and appropriate approach 1377.5.3 The zen approach 1387.5.4 A cynical approach 1387.6 Writing a practical report 1407.7 Bibliographic referencing systems 1427.8 Making an oral presentation 1447.8.1 Introduction 1447.8.2 Preparation of a story line 1457.8.3 Preparation of the materials 1457.8.4 Oral presentation checklist 1467.8.5 Preparing a poster 1477.8.6 Finally 149

8 Pinching materials from the web 1518.1 Introduction 1518.2 To pinch an image 1518.3 To pinch some html code 1538.4 Pinching web pages 1578.5 Pinching a complete web site 1588.6 Poking around a web site 159

9 Websites which present the work of students 161

11 Example of a university web site 173

12 A typical general search – the wreck of the Sea Empress 179

13 Searching a typical government site – mad cow disease 187

14 Using the web for bioscience shopping 193

15 Whaling – freedom of enquiry 1975.1 International Network for Whaling Research 1975.2 The Norwegian government position 2035.3 The International Whaling Commission 209

16 Searching via research groups 219

Part 3 Final destinations 225

17 An eclectic list of web sites 227

18 Websites for the school syllabus 28118.1 Introduction 28118.2 Keys for the list 282

Appendix Getting the computer going 297

Hardware basics 297Software basics 300Special needs 300

While bringing advantages of depth, scope and communication, the easewith which information, ranging from excellent to poor quality, can beobtained from the internet presents problems of both quality andquantity Copyright is also a serious issue In journals, periodicals andbooks, the reader can be sure that the work has been critically evaluatedbefore publication Although there are cases of extreme views on theinternet, it is usually easy to recognise these for what they are However,there may be more subtle situations where a naive student might notrecognise that information is unreliable, or that a particular line is beingadopted by the author

Teachers are likely to find it difficult to keep up with the wealth ofrapidly changing information and the student undertaking research may

be substantially alone in ‘hyperspace’ Peter Boyce has suggested that infuture the whole internet may be the electronic journal; sophisticatedsearch programs could mean that there is only one journal, and it is theinternet

Students need to be aware of the need for care when they are loose onthe internet Even primary school children (5–11 y) are being introduced tothe internet and education for prudence therefore needs to begin at ayoung age The development of a prudent attitude should be guided andmonitored by both parents and teachers and this book represents acontribution to this effort

The aims of the book are to:

introduce bioscience students to procedures for efficiently using theinternet;

review the benefits and problems of internet use, including issues ofcopyright and plagiarism;

review a range of bioscience sites These have been classified on thebasis of the England and Wales advanced-level curriculum studied by16–18-year-old biology students, but many other bioscience sites havebeen included

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

The book is therefore primarily aimed at senior secondary school studentsand first year undergraduates but should be useful for teachers ofbiosciences at all levels Some sections are specifically addressed toteachers (e.g 3.4).

As an experienced university tutor, I am aware that many students lackessential skills in some areas of their performance Consequently, the briefwas extended to include aspects such as essay writing, posterpresentations and organisation of information These skills do notdirectly underpin use of the internet but will almost certainly be employed

in relation to the downloading of information

The Higher Education Funding Council in the UK is now specifying thenature of study skills for university programmes Generic patterns of skillsare appearing While the sources used in a literature search might differfrom subject to subject, the nature of the investigation may transcenddisciplines For example, a historian might investigate county court recordsand a biologist might investigate the raw data held by the EnvironmentalAgency However, the methodology in both disciplines uses a similar kind

of logic Consequently, this book was not intended to be a directory ofmethods which are unique to biosciences but was intended to offercommon-sense advice on how to use the internet in a biosciences context.Although the book addresses generic issues, it is written by a particularkind of biologist – in this case an ecologist It therefore presents mysubjective view as an experienced university teacher Nevertheless, I wouldlike to think that a molecular biologist might have written a similar kind ofbook, though the examples would undoubtedly differ Although I have tried

to focus on biological examples throughout the text, hopefully the bookwill be useful to students from a range of disciplines

Of necessity, most of the images and procedures have to relate to aparticular system In this case, I have tended to use Netscape rather thanInternet Explorer Currently, the former has more useful features, is easier

to use and is more sophisticated I have also occasionally referred toWindows-based software packages such as the word processor packageMicrosoft Word Apple users should find that the advice is general enough

to apply to Apple systems too

The book has three parts Part 1 concerns basic principles of using theinternet, including issues of plagiarism (‘copying’), and evaluation ofquality in web sites and managing files In Part 2, the reader is guidedthrough some typical searches I have tried to make this section as readable

as possible; ideally it will entertain as well as be instructive Part 3 is anannotated list of web sites; these are websites that appear to containreliable information and appear to be relatively stable in time To check the

latter, these sites were visited a number of times over a period of months.Sites which were not stable were dropped Part 3 also contains a list ofsubjects commonly used by national bodies in the British educationalsystem which examine students aged 16–18 years (A levels), just prior toattending university Each of these subjects has been linked to anappropriate web site Here, I have tried, perhaps with limited success, toselect sites which were appropriate to the level of the students concerned.

To try to make what could be a dry subject more readable, I have usedthe personal pronoun (‘I’) where there is an action, such as a search, which

I have undertaken personally The second person (‘you’) has been usedwhen offering advice on what the reader might do in a particular situation

In general, I have assumed that readers will have access to a computer andknow the basics of switching on, logging on and word processing Just incase this is an over-assumption, the appendix contains a brief description ofhow to set up the elementary hardware of a home computer system

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr Mariann Rand-Weaver of Brunel University, Dr SueWilliams of the University of Hertfordshire, Dr Ruth O’Riordin of UniversityCollege Dublin, Dr Geoff Lovell of Kingston University, and Dr NicholasWatinough of the University of East Anglia, for giving generously of theirtime in reading the manuscript I would also like to thank Rachel Ballard ofWiley for her help and would particularly like to thank Nicky McGirr ofWiley for her enthusiastic and diplomatic support throughout the process

of writing the book Claire Beverley, Philip Buckley, John Badmin, RayCalleja, Peter Gilchrist, Dr Mike Nicholls and Dr Jackie Trigwell are alsothanked for their contributions Finally, I would like to thank my wife forher forbearance; without her good humour, this book could not have beenwritten

GBJDAugust 2001

Permissions and credits

All products and company names and TMor R trademarks have been usedwith the permission of their respective owners Screenshots have beenused with permission of the appropriate copyright holders as follows:

Figure I.5, E Lissimore, Nelson-Thorne;

Figure I.4, G Goodwin, Macmillan;

Figure I.6, C McBride, McGraw Hill;

Figure I.10, 5.1, 15.6, 15.7, C McCaffrey, Google, Inc;

Figure 2.6, Candace Moses, BBC;

Figure 2.9, #Crown Meteorological Offfice, UK;

Figure 2.10, K Dalkowski, Environment Canada Reproduced with thepermission of the Minister of Public Works and Government ServicesCanada, 2001;

Figure 3.4, Prof Dr H Mehlhorn, Germany;

Figure 4.1, D Rossie for ATSDR, CDC;

Figure 4.2–4.6, Biobest n.v., Belgium;

Figure 4.11, F Willis, Oxford University Press;

Figure 4.12, L Millhouse, Natural History Museum;

Figure 4.13, A Gibbins, Royal Society;

Figure 4.14, A Bourton, New Scientist;

Figure 4.15, A Grimwade, The Scientist;

Figure 4.16, P Liu, Biomednet;

Figure 4.17, S McGinnis, National Center of Biotechnology Information(PubMed);

Figure 4.18, J Tamames;

Figure 4.19–4.20, C Mackenzie, ISI;

Figure 4.21, L van den Dolder, Sinuaer Associates;

Figure 4.22, C McBride, McGraw-Hill;

Figure 4.23, M Street, Wiley;

Figure 4.24, A Brown, Highwire;

Figure 5.2, D Reid, Ask Jeeves;

Figure 6.4, P Varney, #Topica;

Figure 7.1, M Davies, Malacological Society of London;

Figure 7.2, L Gauthier, CITES;

Figure 7.5, #Sylvie Lape`gue, E Diaz, A Imela, S Launey, C Ledu,

P Boudry, Y Naciri-Graven, F Bonhomme;

Figure 10.1–10.8, Dr Alan Cann, UK;

Figure 12.1–12.2, Figure 15.13–15.15, B Starkie, WeberShandwick;Figure 12.3–12.7, J Precious, reproduced by permission of The StationeryOffice Limited;

Figure 13.2–13.5, Europa;

Figure 14.1, D Eck, Field Museum, US;

Figure 15.1, J Macpherson, AltaVista;

Figure 15.2–15.5, M Freeman, INWR;

Figure 15.8–15.9, Brian Lucas, GridA, Norway;

Figure 15.10–15.12, Halvard Wensel, Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries;

Figure 15.16, #Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge;

Figure 15.17–15.21, G Donovan, IWC;

Figure 16.1–16.4, R Wilson, ICRF;

Figure 17.1, S Gomez, #Institute of Biology;

Figure 17.2, R Bourgeois, IPCC;

Figure 17.3, A Knee, IUCN;

Figure 17.4, J Slotta, WISE;

Figure 17.5, #G Chapelle, Carcinologie, IRScNB;

Figure 17.6, T Middleton, Network 2002, UNED Forum;

Figure 17.7, Sustainable Development International

AAA as a useful filename 37

AAAA file used for attachments 121

absorbtion 287

abstracts 25, 89, 91, 233, 256, 259,

266, 267, 268, 269, 272

academic journal web sites 89

academic services in a university 174

American Geophysical Union 244

American Journal of Physiology 266

American Medical Association 143,

217, 280aspirin 259Assessment and QualificationsAlliance 281

assignment 25, 28, 31, 44, 60, 66, 69,

70, 110, 112, 117, 121,133, 134,

135, 136, 138, 140, 157, 158, 165,

166, 197, 214, 217, 219, 222, 229preparation 133

starting 133writing (story line) 145writing (conclusion) 140assimilation 24, 27

Association for Science Education 231attachments 121

attribution of images 69audience 6, 144, 146, 147, 149, 295audit trail 65

Australia 119, 144, 264, 276, 277,

288, 289, 290, 292authors, contacting 69autonomic 289autopsy 233axioms 42, 44back slash 16backbones 50back-up 60, 135–136bacterial drug resistance 264bacterium 93

Badtimes 47–48Baltic 236, 267, 270BBC 56, 93, 94, 151, 230, 231, 243,247

bCentral 154, 157

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

British Marine Life Society 257British Medical Journal 258, 264,268

British Trust for ConservationVolunteers 246

broadcasting institutions such as theBBC 93

bromeliads 237browser 11, 12, 39, 41,52–54, 58–59,

64, 66, 81, 151, 179, 182, 193, 197,199

BSE 163, 165, 169, 170–171,187–189, 191, 236, 259, 261Buckberry L & Teesdale P 104–105cancer 129, 163,219, 269

Candida 26Cann A 169, 171cannibalism 170Canterbury 119, 246, 283careers 275

carelessness 65catastrophe 135Catch 22 11caveats about email, newsgroups andlists 130

CD-ROM 6,51, 74, 101cell 159, 238, 285, 289cell biology 94, 238, 271, 285Centaurea corymbosa 97Centre For Disease Control AndPrevention (USA) 265

charities and trusts 238chat 3

cheat 4,23–24, 28, 140Chellen S 50, 127chemical ecology 161chemistry for biologists 238chemoreception 265Chernobyl 268, 269child labour 45child safety 274

children on the web 41

computer services department 50

computing and software 240

Copyright Licensing Agency 75

Copyright Clearance Centre 74, 76Copyright Clearance Centre Online76

Coreldraw 147counter 11, 154–155, 157Countryside Agency (UK) 271course notes 165–166, 178, 238, 242,

243, 247craftsmanship 116creationism 246Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (see alsoCJD) 165

critical evaluation 44, 227critical judgement 44critical thinking 12,41, 44, 65, 69, 75,88,

Crumlish 155Crustacea 274curiosities 231currency conversion 278cursor 10, 34, 39, 55, 58, 152, 155,

156, 159, 299cyclical use of programs 29–30cynicism 45

Daily Telegraph 278data files 29

Davies D 144, 269deadline 31, 60, 134dendrogram 6Department for Environment, Food andRural Affairs (UK) 232

Department for InternationalDevelopment 250Department of Environment, Transportand the Regions 250

Department of Health 250designing your own website 78desktop 39

destination address 120development 241, 242, 253, 254, 288dialogue 121, 123

diatoms 232, 265dictionaries 277digestion 287digital subscriber line transmission 52dinosaur 163, 193

directories (folders) 29, 32, 34

directory enquiry for BT phone

energy 234, 242, 253, 271energy conservation 242entomology 161, 243, 274environment 27, 43, 203, 206, 242,

244,245, 247, 250, 253, 267, 285environmental 106, 163, 179, 202,

203, 206, 217, 242, 244,245, 246,

252, 253, 263action 245education 244, 246Environmental Protection Agency(USA) 129, 267, 283enzymes 234, 288, 290, 292EPA (USA) 267, 283

epidemiology 265epithelium 285error messages 64errors 67, 123, 135, 281eskimo 43

essay writing 137collation 137theme 138, 145essays 37, 43, 76, 79, 80,137–138,

219, 231, 232, 237, 256, 274ethics and social issues 246ethics of hunting 212ethos 17, 19, 228, 296etiquette 127

eukaryotes 285Europe 74, 99,187, 206, 228, 249,

256, 274European Commission legislation 261European Union 187

evaluating intellectual content 79evaluating websites 77

evaluation checklist 77evidence 42, 44, 69, 138, 157, 197,199

evolution 42, 55, 178, 230, 243,246,

247, 249, 280, 292Excel 31, 32, 300

file extension code 31

file management tricks 34

find articles search engine 263

finding lost pages 84

France 119, 234, 242, 251fraud 73, 193

free access to on-line journals 105free materials 1, 11, 12, 13, 50, 52, 92,

101, 105, 106, 120, 154, 191Freeserve 52, 64

freeware 13French agriculture 232frequently used links 173, 174Friends of the Earth 245, 266Frontpage 78

ftp 62full stop 62, 66, 134full-text 97, 101, 256, 259fully commercial software 13functional morphology 42, 43fungal pathogens 166

fungi 25, 166,237Gaia 243

gas 286GCSE 248, 281frequency 42gene technology 290generic 159

genes 43, 222, 279genetic bottlenecking 213genetics 94, 249, 291genome biology 97Germany 72, 119, 199, 236, 264, 283,286

getting access 50gif 1, 31

Global Compact 245glossaries 277Go2Net 114God 295Good Times 46Google 17, 54, 55, 110,112–113,

115, 116, 165, 203, 281Gopher 71

Goshawk 124government 44, 206,249, 282government website (searchingof) 163

hydrodynamic 97hypertext 10, 16,17, 44, 45, 157,

187, 188, 199hypertext link 10,17, 45, 157, 187,

188, 199hypertext transfer protocol 62hyphen 72

icon 39, 52, 55, 58, 173, 299IDEAL 101

identifier 126image 3, 6, 17, 39, 46, 50, 74, 89, 97,

121, 140, 147, 151, 152, 153, 154,

155, 255, 275images 3, 6, 10, 12, 13, 29, 39, 50, 73,

74, 83, 145, 146, 147, 160immediacy 120

immunology 94, 255Imperial Cancer Research Fund 258index 6, 10, 14, 56, 76, 79, 83, 84,

103, 105, 137, 174, 199Index of Scientific and TechnicalProceedings 101

Indiana State University 73infaunal 99

inheritance 43, 290Insecta 274insects 81Institute for Scientific Information 97Institute of Ecology and EnvironmentalManagement 123

integrity 24, 41, 151intellect 23, 24, 29Interflora 110Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange 239

inter-library loan 26, 209, 256International Digital Electronic AccessLibrary 101

International Institute for SustainableDevelopment 245

International Network for WhalingResearch 197, 198

International Whaling Commission210

Internet Advisor 52

Internet Explorer 11, 12,27, 28, 52,

54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 89

internet service provider 10, 50, 64

internet subscriber digital network 52

layout 44, 134, 300lay-public 90learned Society web sites 91Lee, Groves & Stephens 75left mouse button 41, 152, 299Lehninger 234

leukaemia 258leukemia 129library 1,25, 26, 66, 71, 101, 105,

137, 162, 173, 206, 217Limulus 233

line of argument 42links 10, 15, 17, 44, 65, 69, 70, 71, 73,

76, 79, 92, 101, 105, 119, 137, 158,

159, 160, 162, 165, 166, 167, 173,

174, 191, 193, 203, 206, 208, 210,

211, 212links in student’s work, following-up70

liquidation 193list servers 125Listproc 127Listserv 127local area network 15local search engine 174location bar 52, 55, 86, 89, 116log 19, 49

logging on 49logic 42, 44logoff 29LookSmart 114Los Angeles Times 41Lovebug 45

Low Level Radiation Campaign 268Lycos 114

mad cow disease 163, 167Madscience 231

Magid L 41mail submission computer 120Mailbase 127

mailbox 120

Me´decins Sans Frontie`res 259

Medical Research Council (UK) 258

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and

Food (UK) (see Department for

Environment, Food and Rural

Affairs) 232

Minitab 31, 276Minke 208, 209, 216misdemeanor 73misspellings 48mitochondria 89, 249mitosis 289

models of good practice 70modem 50, 297

moderator 12, 127molecular medicine 94mollusc 101, 273molluscan shell architecture 115Monera 291

monetarist 45monitor 6, 50, 191, 276, 297, 299monographs 142

moral rights 74morphology 42, 43, 99, 232morphospecies 101

mortality rate of web sites 227mosquitoes 264

moult 124, 125Mount Sinai Hospital 75mouse 33, 56, 117, 152, 157, 160,

262, 297, 299moving files 31mp3 31MSN 10, 52mtb 31multimedia 6multitasking 38muscles 286museum 163, 262, 274music 13, 59, 74Mustela erminea 139, 140mustelids 140

mutagens 249

National Academy of Science(USA) 96, 105, 240, 258National Center for BiotechnologyInformation (USA) 95National Institutes of Health (USA) 261National Resources Defence Council(USA) 266, 284

National Trust (UK) 242

Natural History Museum (UK) 90,

with slides 144, 146org 1, 3, 46, 47, 52,64, 75, 76, 89, 91,

139, 162, 193, 229origin of life 247ornithology 263oscillations 97Ottawa 248outcomes 140, 202, 265packet switching 15page preview 27pager 119Palaeontological Association 90paleontology 264

parasitic weeds 264parasitoid 82parasitology 94, 264password 49, 50, 52, 125, 126, 234,296

paste command 66pathogens 293PCR 290pedagoy 101, 171Pentagon 47periodic table 239periodicals 75permission to copy 69, 75pers comm 72

personnel 86, 88, 120, 202pests 81

pharmacological sciences 94phloem 286

phylogenetic systematics 271pictures 3, 240, 264, 299Pinching

a conplete website 158code 153

materials from the web 151web pages 157

plagiarism 5, 27, 28, 41,73–75, 151,

166, 274plagiarism panel 73plankton 233, 237

Public Health Laboratory Service 259

public understanding of science 267

PubMed 95–96, 98

PubMed Central 96, 98

Purves W et al 101pus 293

Q10 234quality 27, 44, 65, 68, 75, 77–78, 92,

101, 162, 203quantitative 43, 170, 243quotation marks 28, 55, 68, 111radiation 267–269

radiation protection 267, 268ranked sources of information 108raptorial bird dialogue 123Raven P & Johnson G 103read receipt 121

receive 3, 46–47, 123, 296recombination 290recycling 241red lists 241reference lists (compared) 144references 1, 6, 38, 55,65, 69, 71, 73,

75, 97, 101, 115, 134–135, 137,

140, 142, 210referencing 1,66–68, 71–73, 100,134–135, 138, 142–143, 219electronic 71

paper based 71specifications 71referencing style 134referencing web sites 71reliability 5, 26, 49, 70, 77, 79, 89–91,

93, 108, 131, 161–162, 179, 183,

185, 212, 219, 227

repressor 222resistance 258, 260, 292resources 1, 6, 71, 95, 123, 202, 206,

229, 231–232, 235, 243–244, 249,

256, 260, 262, 270, 278, 285respiration 287

resurrecting files 32review journals 93right mouse button 34, 88, 299RIP40 222

RNA 261, 290robot driven search engine 109Roentgen 255

rota 50

Royal College of Pathologists (UK)

259

Royal Society (UK) 91, 108, 269

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

(UK) 242

rtf 31

sage on the stage 295

save sent mail 121

Scott Polar Research Institute 211

Scottish Environmental Protection

secondary school 6, 228seed 96–97, 252, 272self-defence 41self-defence precaution check list 46send 3, 26, 46, 47, 69, 97, 119, 123,

127, 128, 134sensory 289serendipity 92–93, 206, 269serial cuting 84

Serif PagePlus 55serotonin 258server 10, 11, 55, 58–59, 62, 84, 120,

125, 127–128, 146, 194, 199server response 59

servers 10, 11, 15, 59, 120, 227sewage 237, 266, 270

sexual fertilisation 43sexual reproduction 291Shareware 13

sharks 90shell clubs 115shells 97, 115shift key 54Silurian 99Simeon 121single click 66, 152site map 79, 245, 258skeleton 286

skills 2, 23, 30, 133, 276, 299Smithsonian Institution 90Smithsonian Museum of NaturalHistory 262

smoking 292snail mail 119, 123, 185Snap 115

Social Issues Research Centre 246Society for Radiological Protection269

sofa 44software 11–15, 47, 50–51, 55, 74–78,

97, 133, 142, 158soils 270

sound 3, 6, 131, 297

Swedish Nature Protection 245

Swedish Radiation Protection Institute

television 3, 108, 278Telnet 71

Templeton B 74, 76ten commandments of citation 68terminology 271

Thatcher 45theft 73, 193thesis 35Thinkquest 231Thomas Carlyle 136, 138thread 127

thumbnails 152, 275thyroid 289

tif 31tildes 62Times, The (newspaper) 279tips on file handling 37tissue 259, 285, 286tools 27, 28, 37,275, 277, 280, 283,300

toxic substances 233, 266trade organisation 52transcription 222, 253, 258translocation 286

Tree of Life 230, 248trees 247, 271Tulane University 166, 167, 291tutor 6, 24–25, 28–29, 41, 44, 65–66,

69, 70, 74, 84, 88, 121, 130, 138,

140, 142, 153, 157, 234txt 31, 71, 253

UNEP 140, 241, 252UNICEF 252United Nations Environment andDevelopment Forum 251United Nations EnvironmentProgramme 252United Nations SustainableDevelopment Forum 272United States Copyright Act Definitions76

universal language 15

University of Cambridge 255

University of Minnesota 231

university teacher 1, 133, 146, 162

university web page 53–54, 62

university web sites 173

167, 169–171, 173–174, 183, 199,

203, 219, 267–268, 270, 278, 282,296

web sites 1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 44, 50, 52,55–59, 61, 65, 68–71, 73,75,77–80, 83–86, 89–92, 101,105–106, 108–109, 112, 123,

158, 163, 167, 173–174, 179,

197, 199, 209–210, 216–217, 219,227–228

web sites which present the work ofstudents 161

webmaster 78, 84Wentk R 195whales 197, 202, 206–210, 213,215–216

whaling 163, 197, 198, 199, 202–203,208–209, 212, 214–217

what tutors like 78what you see is what you get(WYSIWYG) 78WHO (World Health Organisation)259

Wilson 45Windows 17, 29, 31–34, 37, 48, 50,

136, 300Windows 3.5 32Windows Explorer 32–34, 37, 136Winfile 33

Winzip 14WIPO 74, 76WISE project 248woodland conservation 241woodlice 99

Word 37–39, 41, 70, 147, 300word processor 29, 31,39, 66, 135,145

working backwards through a webaddress 80

World Bank 245World Conservation MonitoringCentre 240, 252

World Health Organisation 253World Intellectual PropertyOrganizationn 74World Wide Fund For Nature 245

world wide web 16

In his history of the origins of the internet, John Naughton (1999) quotesthe poet Yeats, saying ‘a terrible beauty is born’ As it is currently organised,the newborn internet is a global medium for free speech, offering a voice bywhich any citizen can address potentially all citizens However, it alsogives the most dangerous elements of society, including governments, aninformation distribution system which can be abused And the rate of use ofthe internet is rising exponentially (Fig I.1) Four years ago, as a universityteacher, I only rarely received assignments with references to material onthe internet Students’ reference lists would be directed towards materials

in our university library, or in local libraries Now, frequently, the referencelist has been compiled exclusively from the internet Four years ago, one of

my relatives (60 years old) claimed that she would never buy, or use, acomputer Now, she maintains her family-run bed and breakfast businessvia advertising and reservations made over the internet

So, how might this developing information system affect the biologist?Figure I.2 attempts to portray the geography of the traffic over the internet.Biologists need to address the issue of the increasing use of internetresources by students at all levels, ranging from primary school touniversity Networked electronic media such as the internet have anumber of advantages Students can search vast fields of material in greatdepth and can also communicate with others who have similar interests.Material can be accessed that would otherwise be unavailable For example,expedition reports can be produced while an expedition is actually takingplace, as shown by Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft who attempted to crossAntarctica:

http://www.yourexpedition.com 4/4/01–5/7/01*

A more dubious advantage is that students can easily, intentionally orunintentionally, make copies without appropriate attribution of authorship

*Throughout this book, web addresses are followed by the first and last dates on which the web site

Biosciences on the Internet: A Student’s Guide.

Author: Georges Dussart

Copyright & 2002 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Print ISBN 0-471-49842-4 Online ISBN 0-470-84660-7

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

In this text, the ‘web’ and the ‘internet’ are used interchangeably The

‘world wide web’ is a particular domain of the internet

The internet is the total of all the computers in the world which are connected together and

exchanging information with each other

It is a dynamic, growing structure As more computers are added to thesystem it grows ever more extensive and comprehensive The internet hastwo major capabilities Firstly, it can be used as a reservoir, or repository, ofknowledge Secondly, it can be searched at great speed However, thisspeed means that the searcher can rapidly be supplied with huge amounts

of material to sift through, much of it being irrelevant Deciding how tosearch efficiently, and how to sift through large amounts of material, areimportant skills for anyone who ventures out onto the internet

Through the internet you can currently:

search for information anywhere in the world using key words andphrases

Figure I.1 Exponential increase in the number of computers which host web information Source: Internet Software Consortium http://www.isc.org/ds/hosts.html 5/4/01–5/7/01

copy text, sound and images

send and receive text messages by email

to these messages, you can attach

) pages of words (text files)

) pictures (image files)

) moving images (videoclips)

) sound files

listen to radio and watch television

Fig I.2 A conceptual map of internet traffic across the globe at http://www.caida.org/ analysis/topology/as_core_network/AS_Network.xml 4/4/01–5/7/01 Source: Internet Software Consortium http://www.isc.org/ds/hosts.html

chat with others on-line

investigate goods and services – for example check your bank account

One of the major attributes of the internet is that information can befound easily and quickly, and often at low cost The digital electronicprocesses which underpin the system allow you to search efficiently for theinformation you need without physically going to where the information islocated You go to the source of the information as a virtual visitor ratherthan a real visitor The information is held on a web site The web site caninclude one, several or even thousands of pages

However, the internet is not perfect Bruce Royan (2000) has likened it to

a car boot sale rather than a digital network and Tim Berners Lee (2000),who invented the language used on the internet, said the web will always

be ‘a little bit broken’

One of the major defects of the internet is that it offers a new way tosteal, cheat, confuse and damage people It is not perfect and people must

There are four challenges:

1 Arthur C Clarke (2000) has said that ‘getting information from theinternet is like getting a glass of water from Niagara Falls’ How do youget sufficient information without being swept away?

2 How do you search efficiently?

3 How do you make sure that what you get is reliable and relevant?

4 How do you present what you have got without infringing copyright orindulging in plagiarism?

In the following pages, it is hoped that the reader will be guided tosolutions to these challenges

THE PRINCIPLES AND SOME BASIC TERMINOLOGY

Hardware

The basics of setting up a computer, printer and monitor, etc are described

in the Appendix

Multiple media and multimedia

‘Multiple media’ are the materials of audiovisual presentations – forexample, diapositive slide projector, overhead projector, data projector,whiteboards and flip charts

‘Multimedia’ means a range of electronic materials collectively availablevia the same computer For example, a multimedia computer is usuallyequipped with a CD-ROM or DVD drive, soundcard, speakers, and imageprocessing capability so that moving images can be viewed A multimediadelivery probably includes a mix of different forms of presentation whichwill all be linked together For example, in a single program there could be

a mixture of text, images, sound and video

Software

Books and web sites – similarities and differences

The basic structure of a biology textbook comprises:

front and back covers

a preface saying what the book is about and for whom it is intended, andacknowledgements

Early biology textbooks had a densely worded text in small font withcomplex sentences and cluttered drawings (for example, Murray, 1952;Fig I.4) A major milestone was the secondary-school A-level text by M V.Roberts, Biology – a Functional Approach published by Nelson Thornes in

1972 The comparative, functional approach was new and refreshing, andthe figures were clear and informative (Fig I.5) Roberts made a specialeffort to write simple sentences aimed at the exact age group of hisaudience This book attracted a whole generation of students into biology

In the 1980s and 1990s, a new suite of largely American biology texts werepublished with a clear organisation, coloured illustrations and lucidsentence constructions (for example, Guttman, 1999; Fig I.6) Aninnovation was to supply banks of self-test questions so that studentscould take some responsibility for their own learning Like Roberts, thesebooks attempted to attract students into the subject, to motivate them, toguide their learning and, ultimately, to pass them on to new, higherlearning experiences These books now have companion web sites whichoffer many kinds of student and tutor support materials (see section 4.6.8).Now, on the internet there are similar kinds of resources, often madeavailable by authors who subscribe to the view that good informationshould be freely available

Web pages usually have the same objectives as a book The web authorhopes to attract the reader to visit the site, then to offer some usefulinformation and subsequently to pass them on to other sources of relevantinformation However, just as a book can be too big to handle easily, or be

The Principles and Some Basic Terminology 7

Figure I.4 Page from Murray

8 Introduction

Figure I.5 Single and double circulations The hearts are diagrammatic In the amphibian and mammal they have been deflected forward so that the atria appear to be behind the ventricles A, atrium; V, ventricle; R, right; L, left

prone to gimmicks (for example, cartoons), or have too dense a text, theorganisation of a web page can come between the intentions of the authorand the needs of the reader.

The usual, general structure of a web site includes

1 A homepage which illustrates the general purposes of the site

2 A clickable index to the pages which make up the site

3 A final section which describes who wrote the pages and how they can

be contacted

A web site usually includes two frames One frame contains informationthat you might want to refer to at any time while you are visiting the site.The other frame contains a page which is linked to other pages Thewhole structure can be represented as an inverted tree, or dendrogram

Figure I.6 Page from Guttman

In Figure I.7, the main links are shown but there might be other hypertextlinks which the author thinks would be useful to the reader.

Good web sites should have at least:

an index page or homepage which has hypertext links directing thereader to more detailed pages on the web site Hypertext links are words

or images which, when selected with the cursor, will take the reader toanother web page;

additional pages of information;

links to other web sites which might be of interest;

a search engine for the site A search engine is a program which searchesthe internet for selected key words;

Figure I.7 Organisation of a web site

If you want to have your own web site, you create it using speciallanguages such as html or Java and then upload it to the ISP ISPs usuallymake a charge for this.

If you are working in an educational context, the institution will have itsown server which can host your web page People (clients) who are interested

in what you have to offer on your web page can read it as virtual visitors It isuseful to have a counter on your web page so that you can see how manyvisitors you have received Such counters can be downloaded free from theinternet (e.g http://more.bcentral.com/fastcounter 6/5/00–23/7/01)

Your web site will be visited and examined by software programs calledsearch engines Some search engines will examine the whole web site forkeywords; others will refer to the first part of the web site program, calledthe metafile, which contains information describing your web site.Sitting at your computer, you cannot correspond directly with theservers of the internet You need to have a piece of software called a

‘browser’ (Figure I.9) Browsers come ready installed with the software onyour computer or you can download browsers from the internet Obviouslythere is a Catch 22 here since you need a browser to connect to theinternet to get a browser

Many browsers are available but the three most common currentexamples are Netscape, Internet Explorer and Opera All software iscontinually being upgraded and you sometimes have to pay for the newestupgrades However, quite serviceable early versions are available as freedownloads Personally, I prefer working with Netscape It allows you to seewhich pages you will print, seems to have no problems with downloading

Figure I.8 The client–server relationship across the internet

images and has no irritating split screen Not all of this is true of the otherbrowsers.

Netscape can be downloaded free from

http://home.netscape.com/download 6/5/00–23/7/01

Internet Explorer can be downloaded free from

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm 6/5/00–23/7/01 Opera is a relatively simple and therefore fast browser which make littledemand on the hard disc space It can be downloaded free fromhttp://www.operasoft.com/download 6/5/00–23/7/01

Newsgroups

A newsgroup is an electronic notice board allowing free discussion of atopic by a group of interested people, who are called ‘subscribers’ All thenewsgroups on the internet comprise usenet It is the computers andsoftware that share news information Some groups, particularly if they are

in some way official, have a moderator who controls what is going on Thenewsgroup operates according to an agreed charter and contributors areusually anonymous Giving personal details can make people vulnerable topersonal intrusion in their real, as opposed to cyber, lives, since the

Figure I.9 How the browser, a search engine and the internet relate to each other

information can be read by anyone In normal conversation, people avoidbeing offensive by social controls of body language etc These controls donot exist on the web and a message can appear to be more abrupt oroffensive than was intended Discussions can quickly become unpleasantand abusive (flaming) It is possible to try and tone down critical comments

by using emoticons such as:

:-) = I am happy:-( = I am sadThere is a gallery of emoticons at:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/davebarry/emoticon.html 5/5/99–23/7/01

However, I think the best strategy is to behave as if you were in a localconversation with someone and be reasonably polite and guarded Forexample, it is useful to begin every communication with ‘Dear ’ andfinish with ‘Best wishes ’ Both are relatively neutral and do not allow thereader to misinterpret the emotions of the writer

You can get an overview of some of the available biological newsgroups bygoing to a search engine and typing in ‘biology newsgroups’ For example,Fig I.10 shows a newsgroup conversation concerning women in biology

Software on the net

Different types of software are available to you over the internet Theseinclude:

Public domain – copyright-free so you can do what you like with it Shareware – free on trial but then should be paid for

Freeware – can be used and distributed but not altered

Fully commercial – has to be licensed and paid for