Curious about something and don’t know where to find
information? Even if you don’t have a computer, you can search the web at any public
library. If you already have an Internet browser, such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet,
open your program and locate the button that says “search”. When you click on
this button, you will pull up a page that has a number of choices of “search
engines”.
A search engine is a web program designed to help you find what you are looking for on the
internet. Excite, Lycos, and my favorite, Webcrawler, are just a few of the search
engines.
I used web research for references in several papers I wrote, and these references are as
valid as books or magazines.
But, you have to be watchful in your search. First of all, there are different kinds of
web sites, and a clue as to the type is in the name itself. For example, if the name has
an extension of “.edu”, it is educational, while “.com” is commercial,
“.org” is nonprofit, and “.gov” is government.
What does this mean in your search? It depends on what you are trying to do. If you are
curious and want information, “.edu” might be your best bet for a web site with
good, and unbiased information. But, even a commercial site can give very explicit facts
about their products.
So how do you get started? Simply type in the key word or words of what you are searching
for. Watch out, because this can give you more than you bargained for. Suddenly you have
pulled up 100,000 sites concerning your topic, some are what you are looking for and some
not. If not, there is a way to narrow your search. Say your topic is “churches”.
To narrow the topic, simply choose your key words and put quotes around them. Now your
search becomes “spiritual churches”, or “spiritual churches Austin
Texas”. The more specific you are, the more specific your results will be.
In my search, I chose “firewalking”, the “Dalai Lama”, and “aroma
therapy”.
For firewalking, I found the following URLs, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator
(translated means web address).
http://www.the-park.com/Erospirit/firewalking/bio.html Tolly Burkan, the
“founder” of firewalking, is covered in this web site.
http://www.firewalk.com/fire.html - This site has pictures and videos of firewalkers.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dwilley/fire.html - Firewalking is very ancient as a practice dating
to 1200B.C., and this site gives historical data.
http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/skep_6.html#6.1 - This site is about scientific explanations
and skepticism.”
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, was my second topic to research, and I found:
http://www.tibet.com/ - This site has good information about Tibet in general as well as
factual information about the Dalai Lama, his discovery, his life, and his exile.
http://www.magicoftibet.com/emptiness.html - Emptiness as a fundamental concept in
Buddhism was discussed by the Dalai Lama on a visit to New York.
In searching aroma therapy, sometimes spelled “aromatherapy”, I found many
commercial sites, but in scrolling down, I did find some that talked about what aroma
therapy is.
http://www.freshconcepts.com - has good background information. “Of all the
senses, smell has the greatest impact on human emotions,” according to a leading
neurologist. Smell receptors are directly linked to the limbic system, and smell is
the only sense that bypasses mental judgement. Different aromas invoke different feelings.
For example, one topic I researched said that by filling a dentist office with a
calming smell, the visit to the dentist was less painful because there was no
“dentist office” smell.
http://atlanticinstitute.com - gives explanations of essential oils and how they work,
including some of the affects fragrances have on the body.
http://www.livingrite.com/ - describes some of the different fragrances that are available
in candles.
This was my quest on the web. Now I would like to hear about yours and what you found.
Above all, have fun!
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