Monday 29 October 2012

Presentations and data search


Searching data in text format

One of the first things to search while making presentations is to seek data as text. This may look a difficult thing to do but can be simplified by following few instructions. If you are new to making presentations then you can go through some of the instructions here to ease this part!

How to search?

If you are not acquainted with searching data then follow the steps below. For example you are searching about Google. Type Google followed by Wikipedia.


 The available results are shown. Click on the link that has your topic followed by Wikipedia. You’ll be redirected to a page in wiki where there is information about your topic. The page shown has text that you can copy and use directly or edit it.

How to copy text?

Copying text is a very easy. All that you have to do is as follows
Go through the text and identify what part you need. Now place your cursor at the point where you want to start. Keeping your left mouse button clicked move the cursor to the point where you want to end.
Now place your cursor on the selected portion that is highlighted and right click. You’ll see a menu box, click on copy. Now open a blank page in any text document reader (preferably MS Word)

                            

And right click on the blank space  paste your text. After pasting it would look something like this.


I want to select all the text

If you want to select whole of the copy-able items in a given page follow these steps
Open the webpage you want to copy and press Ctrl+a. Now right click on the page select copy and paste it in text reader (preferably MS Word)

Why preferably MS Word?

When you want to paste a selected part of text or all parts of a webpage in a text document reader it so happens that your selection has contents that a normal text reader like note pad cannot support

For example:
The Google webpage we've selected completely or partly when pasted in a note pad looks like this.


While the one pasted in MS word looks like earlier image. MS word helps you save most of the data of the webpage in its original form. So, always prefer MS Word.

I cannot copy the contents in a website

If you've tried all the above tips and still couldn't copy the contents of the website, the best option is to save the complete webpage and to your computer once you do this you can check the website on your computer even without internet connection.
Note: while browsing a saved webpage on a PC without internet connection you can go through the current webpage but cannot navigate to other links provided in that page.

How to save a web page?

Google Chrome users
Open a website and press Ctrl+s . You’ll be prompted to save the webpage to your PC. Save it.


You can browse the saved webpage with any web browsers with or without an internet connection. If you want only a part of a website, then, follow these steps. Navigate to the part of the webpage you want to copy. Now press the button on your Key Board "Prt Scr SysRq" or "Print Screen" .


Open MS word  or MS paint (or any image editor) and click Ctrl+v  or right click and paste.
This helps you take a snapshot of your current system screen and paste it in image format.

Other sources

If you want to search data in websites similar to Wikipedia you can try these other sources!




Hope this post was helpful! IF you have any questions related to making presentations feel free to ask!
Don’t forget to comment!
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Saturday 13 October 2012

Importance of keywords in searching data



For better and refined search

Most of the times it appears that only some type of data is available on the internet about our interest.
But that’s a wrong notion. By changing key words you can find different topics related to an issue.
For example if I am searching for Images of lions through Google. Check out what all types of results I get by just changing few words!

1.       Lion

 

2.       Male lion


3.       Lioness


4.       Feline family


6.       Liger


7.       Tigon

                                            

8.       White lion

                                            

9.       Captive lions

                                       

10.    African lions

                                       

11.   Lion cubs

                                             

12.   Lions in circus

                                       

13.   Lions in the wild

                                        

14.   Lion fights

                                        

15.   Pride of lions

                                               


16.   Lions in movies.

             

17.   MGM lions

                                         

18.   Big cat family

                                         

19.   Lions animated

      

20.   Lions in abstract paints

                                           

21.   Lion- king of the jungle

                                              



22. Lions in zoo


       

Did you notice that all the keywords give away different results.
Isn’t it amazing to see what changing keywords can yield.
Make sure you don’t miss this point when you are searching for anything on the internet!

If you have any questions related to making presentations, leave them as comments I'll try my level best to answer them Thank You!!!.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Required types of data and sources to find



Different Forms of Data and Sources

The second step in making a presentation is collection of data. This is the biggest problem a ppt maker faces. You should know how and where to find data, then it’s a piece of cake. Here are some guidelines on gathering the data required for your ppt.

Data from open source websites

This is perhaps the easiest source for data. All you have to do is  Google your topics and lo you’ll find the information from open source websites. I bet every ppt maker goes for Wikipedia but there are some other websites where you can find information related to your topic. Some of them are.

Note: Use proper keywords and technical terms for refined and accurate results.

Images



Try searching images related to your topic. Images make your presentation livelier.They also help to create a reference for a given explanation.

The easiest way to find them is to GoogleImages or use MSNphotos , YahooImagesBut wait, there’s a better option there are some sites completely dedicated for images. Try these.

Flickr

PhotoBucket

DeviantArt

TwitPic

ImageShack

TinyPic

WebShots

Imgur

ShutterFly

SmugMug

Fotolog

Photo.net

4chan

SnapFish

Slide


Note: Watch out for images with copyright issues .

Figures and Representation of figures

Facts and figures add strength to your point. Don’t forget to include whatever info you have about your topic in the form of facts and figures. You can find this part in the web. For example if you are working on a project regarding UNO you can get data from UNO’s official website that will be of great value.
If you have figures that are cumbersome to represent and understand try turning them to charts , bar graphs etc. this drive home the point easily instead of figures. MS Excel offers a good range of options to turn data to charts. Try it.

Readymade ppts and online documents

One of the most preferred options is to find readymade ppt on your topic. Just type your topic followed by ppt in your search engine. You can also search it in sites which solely host ppts as follows

Scribd

Alltop

Docstoc

Calaméo

Edocr

Googledocs

 

Data as Pdf , eBooks,  Audio clips

Type your topic followed by pdf in a search engine. It displays the list of available pdfs  on the web . Normally these are technical papers on that topic and turn out to be a good option.

 Find out the available books in your library that deal on your topic. Get your faculty’s help on this. Another way is to search in Googlebooks. Usually books have reliable and accurate data and you can also list them in your references. Some websites offer audio clips on topics they may range from discussions to expert opinion on a topic. Try searching for them

Note: Don’t waste time in analysis of the entire pdf. Just go through headings and use the find option (Ctrl+f).

Booksshouldbefree

ThoughtAudio

LibriVox

Podiobooks

Open Culture

Project Gutenberg

Librophile


Video clips

You can also add video clips to explain a certain point in your ppt. If not you can convert parts of your video to images and put to use. Apart from YouTube there are other sites that can help you.




Metacafe


Blog and forum discussions

Your topic may have been someone else’s interest also at some point. One way to find it out is to find blogs and forums related to your topic. Just type your idea followed by blog/forum and you should get your job done. You can also go for some of the blog or forum platforms below platforms below

Technorati

TrakBlog

Ubuntu Forums


News papers Yearbooks and journals

You can also add articles from news papers in your ppt. Find relevant articles from the newspapers. Also search for Yearbooks available in your country. They have excellent data and can be very helpful.


Official websites

If you happen to make a ppt related to organizations or establishments. The best place to search for data is to surf through their official websites.

Human resources

This is simply masking use of the people around you. Generally we cannot assess a person’s knowledge on a topic unless we get them to talk. So try discussing topics with your friends they may help you with ideas or direct you to resources.

Surveys

Adding survey data can make your presentation look applicable.
Try to find surveys about your topic. Usually Universities and NGO’s conduct surveys which ;you can use. some web sites conducting surveys

BritSocAt - CCESD

Surveymonkey





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