Finding Internet sites for International Centre students

Getting started

Evaluating Web sources
Citing information sources and plagiarism includes information about citing sources found on the Web.
Internet tutorials

Useful links

Gateways and search engines
News sites
Services for international students

Subject specific links

Contemporary Britain
Oxford on the Internet
EFL and TESOL resources
Language Studies and linguistics
Film Studies
Guides to other subjects are available from the Library's Web pages.

Internet tutorials

If you are new to using the Internet, try an Internet tutorial which can teach you the basics of searching effectively:

  • The Library has set up a Brookes Virtual tutorial called Searching the web - Google and gateways to help you find out more about using search engines and gateways. To access this:
    • Go to the Brookes home page and select Brookes Virtual.
    • At the Brookes Virtual Gateway, click on the link for Self-Registration courses
    • Log into PIP as prompted
    • From the list of courses available, click the Register button for the course you want
    • On the next page to appear, click on the Register button
    • Click on the Go to the Brookes Virtual Gateway button
    • Log into the VLE and the tutorial will be available in your Courses List

  • Internet Detective Free Internet tutorial to help develop your skills in online research.
  • The Virtual Training Suite offers various free , "teach yourself" tutorials that allow you to practise your Internet Information Skills. These include Internet Tutorials for Learning Languages and ESOL
  • TONIC the online netskills interactive course

Useful links

Gateways and search engines

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! can be useful for searching for a known item on the Web, e.g. a famous person, company, event or product. To make best use of a search engine, you must be as specific about what you are looking for as possible. Search engines look for the terms you have entered in the full text of Web pages. This means that for every search you may get thousands of results, many that are not relevant for your needs, so they are not the best way of tracking down serious academic research.

Subject gateways are a useful alternative to search engines, offering online catalogues of selected subject specific web sites. They are usually producded by the academic community and can help you to locate good quality material on the Web.

Links to subject gateways:

  • I Love Languages is a gateway to language-related Web sites
  • AHDS: Arts and Humanities Data Service. Note that this site is no longer being updated.

There are also gateways which cover a wide range of subjects:

News sites

  • BBC News includes a searchable archive of news stories and features special extended reports devoted to the main news stories of the day. To view these, select Special reports from the menu on the left of the screen. Topics include UK and the euro; Iraq in transition and The Aids debate
  • Guardian Unlimited includes a searchable archive of articles and also in-depth reports on various topics. To view these, scroll down the front page and select Interactive guides from the menu on the right of the screen.
  • The Library's News and current affairs guide has links to these and other worldwide news sources.