When students are assigned a research project whether it is a paper, a presentation, or a video, the first place they turn to get information is the internet. The problem with this is that the information they find on the internet is always necessarily the quality they need.
The web offers an incredible amount of access to all kinds of information including current news, and the perspectives and thoughts from experts in every field you can imagine. But it is also a public platform where anyone can give their opinion. There is no real system of checks and balances. It is important to be extremely critical of the source of the information you find on the web.
One of the best ways to get good information is to use a library website. Public libraries and school libraries will often have subscriptions to online sources that are good sources for any kind of research. These sources are usually an oline version of many sources you used to use in their print form at the library. You can now just access their online version. It is easy to cite journals, scholarly magazine articles, newspapers, and government documents.
It is also important to learn the proper way to cited online references. The standards for citing sources you find online is still in the process of developing. At this point the most important part of citing is to give as much information as you can about the source. Always include the title, the author, what the publication is, and even the URL. Some good sources on how to properly cite an online source is the MLA Style Sheet, and Hacker & Fister’s Research & Documentation Online.
