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Finding Internet Resources
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The World Wide Web
For the purposes of this workbook, discussion of the Internet will be restricted
to the World Wide Web (WWW, W3, or Web) -- the most popular of a variety
of methods for storing and accessing data on the Internet. Web documents
from anywhere in the world can be displayed on a computer screen using
a Web browser (i.e., Netscape, Mosaic, or Lynx), provided, of course, that
the Web browser is installed on a computer with an Internet connection.
You used a Web browser to access this workbook.
The Web allows connections to be made through hypertext links.
When you select a link (for instance, click on an underlined term when
using Netscape), the document to which that term is linked is displayed
on your screen.
Can I find information for my
term paper on the Web?
Points to consider when thinking about using the Internet as a source of
information for your thesis:
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The information on the Internet is not organized..
The Internet is a network of computer networks. There is no one
person or organization in control to organize information. When you search
for information on the Web, there is no way to specify that you want to
retrieve only scholarly material. The most efficient way to find scholarly
articles is to use a journal index, for which an organization has intentionally
selected articles in a particular discipline and organized them by subject.
There are journal indexes on the Web, but you generally have to
be a subscribing customer to use them.
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ANYONE who has an Internet account can create a Web page.
There is no quality control. Joe Blow in Timbuctoo could create
a page with his opinions on any number of subjects. You may not know anything
about who he is, where he got his facts from, or if the information is
up to date.
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Your professor may not accept references from the Internet.
Definitely find out where he or she stands on this issue.
With these points in mind, the answer is YES,
there could definitely be some good information on the Web that you can
use as references for your term paper. Many, many reputable organizations
have Web sites (i.e., B.C. Stats, the United Nations, the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), etc., etc., etc. These
sites may include links to statistical tables, reports, treaties, statutes,
constitutions, and other important data and documents.
To be an efficient searcher, you should think about where you
are most likely to get the information that you need. Don't waste your
time surfing the Web when the Web is not the most efficient place to find
a particular type of information. If you need general information about
a subject, search for books in a library catalogue. If you need scholarly
articles, search journal indexes. If you need a specific document that
you think would be likely to be on the Web, then search the Web.
Get to know the most important sites on the Web for your discipline,
and keep aware of the types of information available at these sites. Then,
when you need this information, it will be at your fingertips.
Analyze the quality of the information that you find
It is important to analyze the
quality of ANY information sources that you find, but it is especially
important to do so with resources from the Web. Again, REMEMBER that with
an Internet connection and the right software, ANYONE can publish on the
Web. Pay particular attention to the following questions:
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Does this information originate from a reputable organization, or does
it originate from an individual whose qualifications are unknown to you?
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What is the currency of this information? Many Web documents include a
date of publication or revision. If there is no such date included with
a document, you have no way of knowing how old it is.