Using the Internet, Yes or No?

The Internet is so accessible and so easy to use that many of us think of it as our first, and sometimes only, source of information. You can get lots of sources, reflecting lots of points of view, and you can get the information whenever you want it. Why bother going anywhere else when it's all right there on your desktop?

Well, if you really think about what you need for a research project, you'll soon discover that the Internet isn't the only place to look, nor is it always the best place to begin. Here are some reasons why:

• There's just so much. Unless you have a good, solid understanding of your subject area, you may not know how to select the most appropriate sources and sites from among all those that you find. Sifting through thousands of web sites may take up a lot more time than if you had used a library catalog or an index database in the first place.
• Some sites offer incomplete information or superficial treatment. Many web sites don't provide a full picture or much depth on the subject, leaving you to piece together lots of unrelated and sometimes contradictory bits of information.
• Much of the information on the Internet is not reviewed for accuracy, balance, or reliability. Many of the most renowned scholarly journals are not available in electronic form, so if you rely only on web sites or other online sources, you may miss some of the most authoritative sources on your subject.
• There are many search engines and directories you can use to find web sites, each having unique features and strengths, but you don't always know what you're getting and what you're missing. No single search engine indexes everything on the Internet.
• Many search engines don't allow precise searching techniques, so you end up looking at many more sites than you need to find the "good" ones.

Using the Internet needs to be considered in the context of your overall research objectives and your knowledge of the subject area. If you just need some quick factual information, or if you want to build on information you've already found from other sources, go for it! But be aware of the limitations.