Guidelines for use of University Facilities
The guidelines for the use of the Universities facilities are all stated in the ‘Acceptable use Policy – Computer suite’. When you first access your account this will appear automatically and you must read and click that you agree to abide by these rules. The guidelines can be found at:
Getting on-line at home or in hall’s or Residence
The basics
To get an internet connection all you need is a telephone connection and a computer. The majority of internet providers will come out and set up the connection for you or give you detailed instructions and a CD-ROM which will take you through the connection process. You will firstly have to choose whether you would like a dial-up connection or Broadband.
Broadband is now becoming the increasingly popular choice for people who want to connect to the internet. The reason for this is the speed of Broadband is remarkably greater than with a normal dial-up and also allows you to download substantially bigger files. Thus allowing you to download bigger files at a faster rate, for example, music albums take minutes and even films can take under ten minutes to download from the Internet. The negative point of Broadband compared to dial-up is that it more expensive even though you are getting the same service – just a bit quicker.
With a dial-up connection the Internet service providers (ISPs) are now capable of offering free dial up internet access since the bulk of web surfers have now decided to upgrade to high-speed ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and Cable (these are both a Broadband connection). Given that dial up internet access is not as popular as it once previously was; the ISPs are able to forward the savings onto their customers. This is great for the users that want internet access however can not meet the expense of some of the faster, more expensive Broadband services.
As a student you would more than likely feel the advantage of a dial up internet connection, as the majority of students in the present day are weighed down with University course work and constant revision that they do not have the time to hold down a decent paying job. As a result of this, you would obviously not be willing to pay extra for such expenses like the dearer high-speed Internet accounts. Dial-up Internet services allow you to connect to the Internet to do research and University work, or to send an email back home at more economical price.
Which ISP is the best?
There are so many different Internet Service Providers offering connection to the Internet through them. The usual package starts at £17.99 a month and can go up to anything like £35 a month. For £17.99 the major ISP’s like AOL, NTL, Virgin and Wanadoo generally offer unlimited time online and downloads, 512kbps (kilo bytes per second download) and 10 x faster. a free modem and free connection is offered by all the ISP’s, although NTL, Virgin and Wanadoo only offer this if you order online.
When deciding on which ISP to connect to the internet with, I would recommend checking and comparing all their offers first. A good site for researching this is . This allows you to choose six of your preferred ISP’s and the web site compares them on speed, reliability and customer service.
Applications used
Outlook e-mail
Napier uses Microsoft Outlook 98 for their e-mail software package. When you try to access your e-mail account you will have to again enter your user name and password for security. Just a few of the things this package enables you to do is send and receive e-mail’s, maintain and coordinate an on-line calendar, save details on contacts and set reminders for important dates; these are all displayed e-mail account. To send e-mails, left click on ‘new’ then ‘message’ and write your message; to read a received e-mail, simply double left click on the message.
WebCT
WebCT is an example of groupware, which provides shared working facilities, for example, Discussion groups (Newsgroups), feedback, Chat room, on-line timetable, module guide and even a notice board.
WebCT is useful for your course as it holds lecture notes and allows you to chat to other people on your module and share information and tips.
Browsers
A Web browser is a client based program that uses the HTTP to search for specific words and phrases using Web servers all over the Internet to search and find the information the client is wanting.
Two browsers (search engines) that the considerable bulk of Internet users use are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Whilst some online services, for example America Online, initially used their own specific browsers, almost all now use the Netscape or Microsoft browser. Although, Lynx is a text-only browser for UNIX shell and VMS users.
Some other browsers that are popular are ‘YAHOO’ and ‘google’. These are good as they are not just search engines, they have games, gossip, weather reports and so forth; which appeal to the younger teenage population. Search engines like google and Microsoft Internet Explorer are paramount for your University course work, as many topics will be new to you and by using a search engine to look up topics you will save a lot of time and effort.
Nimweb
Nimweb is an application which holds student records on-line; it contains programme details, module information, student contact and home addresses, and so forth. This is important to your course as your exam results are posted here and also all the information on your graduation is posted here aswell.
Tips
Avoiding the plagiarism trap
There are three main tips that will help you avoid falling into the plagiarism trap:
- Practice writing your own notes; read the passage that is useful to you, cover it up and think about the points it raised and write them down in note form. Now when you go to write out your essay, use your notes and try to avoid looking back at the passage, you will find that you have grasped the points from the passage and conveyed them in your words.
- If you want to use a quote or passage that emphasises your point well, highlight it in another colour to differentiate it from your own notes and make sure you note the number of the page you copied it from.
- When you make notes after looking at a book or web page make sure you record the details of the book or web page and include these by use of footnotes and endnotes.
Credability of material on the net
Anybody can publish material on the Internet, so when searching the web there are three main things you should consider:
- Is the information or page accurate?
- Is the information or page complete?
- And is the information or page authoritative?
Weigh up the motive the person would have had for putting this information on the Internet. If you have discovered a reference via a search engine, you can get hints about what it might contain through its address (URL). For example, if you were searching for information on JANET and you found a URL that was sited on a personal website about a woman; you would recognise this probably would not be about a Joint Academic Network. Lastly to assist you in establishing some background on you web page, there could be a ‘home’ button on the web page your search engine found which would give you a more information on which to base your judgement of the web sites authenticity.
Chatrooms and Newsgroups
Personal safety in chatrooms and newsgroups is a serious matter. You should never give your personal details out as these chatrooms and newsgroups are not 100% secure as you do not really know who you are talking to. Never arrange to meet people in person that you only know through a chatroom or newsgroup as they could be lying about who they are and you never properly know their intentions. Chatrooms and newsgroups are meant to be beneficial and fun but only when used in the proper manner.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
SERVICE PROVIDER COMPARISON
ISP Colour Codes
Speed
Reliability
Customer Service
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
Appendix 7
Appendix 8
Appendix 9
Appendix 10
Introduction to the Internet
1600 word essay
EMMA JANE HALLEY
APRIL 2005
Module number: CO12012
Module Leader:Colin Dougall
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Webpages
This is a new technology than is able to change normal telephone lines into high-speed digital lines.