Research Webpage Design I

Objectives: 

          By the end of this laboratory you should be able to do the following:

• Organize your groups and find a research topic of interest.

• Conduct a web based search on information about your topic of interest.

• Learn the first basic steps in webpage design.

• Modify your webpage template with some of the new information.

This research webpage project actually makes up four of your labs. You will meet three times to work on your projects and the fourth meeting will be to present your project to the class. Your finished research webpage will be graded on content and presentation.  Today’s laboratory starts the first phase of a four part group research project.  Today you will form groups and come up with a research topic. You will also begin to learn how to design a web page. You will hopefully, find that it is easier than you thought. Over the next few weeks you and your group will collect, sort, and prepare a presentation in the form of a webpage and a 10 minute oral and visual presentation to the class.  Most of life involves group work, so if you aren't good at it, this is the time to learn. Good luck.

Organize your groups and find a research topic of interest

We will start by breaking up into groups of four. Once your groups have been established, you can then start discussing your topic of interest. There are four basic categories that you can find a topic from.  1. Brain Area. For this topic you are to pick one specific brain area and find out all of the information you can about it.  2. Drug Information. For this topic you must pick a drug, either recreational or prescription, and find as much information about it as you can.  Both Caffeine and Cocaine were chosen as projects last semester.   3. Mental Health Disorder. As with the other topics, you pick a mental health disorder and prepare an informative presentation. Autism and Bipolar Disorder  were done last semester. The final topic is  4. An Activity Explained by Physiological Psychology. This can be any type of activity in the world of physiological psychology. Last semester one group investigated the Neurobiology of Attraction and another investigated the phenomena of Road Rage. When determining your project please let everyone in your group be allowed to voice their opinion.  Once you think you have your topic, call me over, and I will discuss its strengths and limitations. You need to do this before you proceed to the research phase. Good luck.

 Conduct a web based search on information about your topic of interest

            The second step of your research webpage project is to go to the BE-6 computers and begin a literature and information search of your topic. You can also find the links to all of the research webpage projects from last semester. Surf through those and check them out. All of them were superbly done. I expect all members of the group to be involved with this phase. Once you have identified your research project, view the appropriate webpage template posted below to see what I expect you to cover in your research. The four different types of research webpage templates are listed below:

        1. Brain Area Template

        2. Drug Template

        3. Disorder Template

        4. Phenomena Template

            After viewing the template, go back to your internet research and make sure to assign duties to each group member so that all sections of the template are filled with information.

Learn the first basic steps in webpage design

            The first thing you need to know about webpage design is that it is simple.  If you can use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and/or Microsoft PowerPoint then you can use Microsoft Frontpage for webpage design. The editing commands are the same in all pieces of software.  The first step is to make a copy of the research webpage template that you have decided to use. You should probably bring a floppy disk or be prepared to email the finished files to your home computer for safe keeping and so you can share them with your group.  Let's get started:

You should start by saving the copy of your research webpage template to the desktop on the computer that you are working from.  DO NOT SAVE IT ON ONE OF THE BE-6 COMPUTERS! When those computers shut down they delete all saved files.

Once you have done that, click on the Microsoft Frontpage icon (It is the white arrow in the blue circle).

Once in Frontpage, click on File, Open, and then select your file from the desktop.

When it opens you will see that the background image has been lost.

   This is your first tip: Save all images that you plan to use in your webpage with your webpage files.

You are now in the "Edit Mode" of your document.  This is where the changes are made.

Editing Text:

        You can now type any text you want into the document.

        You can change font just as you would in MS Word

            There are many different types of fonts available

Adding Background Color, Texture, and Images:

        Go to Format, Background...

        From here you can change your Background color, Text color, add a background picture and much more.

        I will let you experiment here yourself.

Adding Lines:

        Go to Insert and then click on Horizontal Line and you get this:

        These lines can make a nice concept break.

Adding Pictures and Clip Art:

        Most computers have hundreds of Clip Art loaded onto them.

        To access these simply click on Insert and then Clip Art

            (you may have to click the double down arrows to get the the Clip Art icon)

        Then scroll through or search the files and click on the one you want.

        It will appear wherever your cursor is:

            To center this Clip Art, just highlight it and hit the Center Text icon on your view bar

            To make it larger or smaller just click on it and drag the black boxes in the corners in or out.

            The process is the same for any photos you have on file.

            To copy a photo from another website just right click on it and save it to the desktop.

            Then insert it into your document the same way you would Clip Art.

Creating a Hyperlink:

            The easiest way to add a hyperlink file to some text in your document is to first go to the website that you want to link to. Then highlight the URL for the website and copy it (control C is copy). Then go to your webpage, type in the reference word for the website and highlight it. Then go to Insert, Hyperlink and paste (control V is paste) the URL into the address bar.  Your text will automatically become a hot link:

American Psychiatry Association

            These are just a few of the editing tools you need to get started. As with any software, it is best to tinker around. Check all of the drop down menus and experiment with what you find. Hopefully, you will have a few things to show me after a few weeks of experimenting with web page design.  Make sure to save all of your work often and have backup copies also.

Modify your webpage template with some of the new information

            Once you have the basics down, it is time to really get to work.  I will expect you to modify your new webpage with some new research information before you leave class today.

PLAGIARISM WARNING! Please remember that you can not just cut and paste someone else's words into your document. You need to conduct the research, convert it into your own words and give the reference in your reference page. I will be jumping from group to group to help all of you with your projects. Good luck.

rmorrissette@palomar.edu