A Researchers Struggle

“Anyone can create a Web site. It is important to find out the author’s identity and his or her qualifications or expertise in order to determine the credibility and reliability of the information.”

As a frequent researcher, the most frustrating thing is the internet. It is incredibly easy to find information that is perfect for your topic, whatever it might be. All you have to do is type in your essay topic to Google and you will get a million hits. Everything you could possibly need to complete your essay. Then there is that sinking feeling as you realize you are reading information that is not credible. You can’t find a recognized author, the website has a “.com” after it and it is obvious that most of the information is biased toward your side of the argument.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

Wikipedia is a prime example of this. Everyone can find almost any of the information they need on this website. The catch is, almost every college student has been prohibited from using it as a cited source in research projects. However, wikipedia does still serve a purpose. Conveniently, wikipedia usually lists the sources where they get their information. It provides a very convenient link to find other credible sources. So even though we can’t use wikipedia directly, at least they have catered to the college student disability of having to use scholarly sources.

Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)