Conducting Successful Library and Internet Searches

Solution Preview

How and where to find academic resources online
Evaluating the strength and bias of a source.

The Internet provides access to a wealth of information on countless topics contributed by people throughout the world. On the Internet, a user has access to a wide variety of services: vast information sources, electronic mail, file transfer, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, and more. The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. These include e-mail, FTP, HTTP, Telnet, and Usenet news. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.

The Internet is not a library in which all its available items are identified and can be retrieved by a single catalog. In fact, no one knows how many individual files reside on the Internet. The number runs into a few billion and is growing at a rapid pace.

The Internet is a self-publishing medium. This means that anyone with little or now technical skills and access to a host computer can publish on the Internet. It is important to remember this when you locate sites in the course of your research. Internet sites change over time according to the commitment and inclination of the creator. Some sites demonstrate an expert's knowledge, while others are amateur efforts. Some may be updated daily, while others may be outdated. As with any information resource, it is important to evaluate what you find on the Internet. For more information, see Evaluating Internet Resources.

Also be aware that the addresses of Internet sites frequently change. Web sites can disappear altogether. Do not expect stability on the Internet.

One of the most efficient ways of conducting research on the Internet is to use the World Wide Web. Since the Web includes most Internet protocols, it offers access to a great deal of what is available on the Internet.

There are a number of basic ways to access information on the Internet:
1. Go directly to a site if you have the address
2. Browse
3. Explore a subject directory
4. Conduct a search using a Web search engine
5. Query a service devoted to digitized scholarly materials or books
6. Explore the information stored in live databases on the Web, known as the "deep Web"
7. Join an e-mail discussion group or Usenet newsgroup
8. Subscribe to RSS feeds

Most of the criteria used to assess and evaluate traditional educational media such as textbooks and films can be directly applied to Web sites as well. These include: accuracy of the information, critical analysis of possible bias, credibility of the author and/or publishing source, appropriateness and accessibility (in terms of language) to the specified audience, timeliness, relevance to a particular subject area, validity of content, and effectiveness of aesthetic aspects.
Still, for a variety reasons, even deeper considerations for some traditional educational evaluation criteria, along with several new criteria, must be incorporated into current models to holistically evaluate products of this fairly new cyber-medium. For example, unlike traditional educational media such as films, textbooks, and journals - all of which are usually subject to a rigorous review process before being made widely available to teachers and students - virtually anybody with access to a Web server can create an educational Web site.
Generally, no entity comparable to a publishing company exists to help ensure the credibility or expertise of educational Web designers or authors. Likewise, no formal review board examines the validity of the information on most educational Web sites. So while it remains important for educators to constantly perform our own assessments of materials we use in our classrooms, this responsibility is intensified when it comes to Internet media.
Other ...