Researching via the Internet
Experiential Education
Objectives
By undertaking this module you will learn how to:
- Use the Internet as an effective tool in research
- Be aware of the disadvantages of using the Internet
- Take advantage of the wealth of information available
- Be aware of the search tools to retrieve reliable and valid information most effectively from the Internet.
Introduction
Researching via the Internet has its advantages and disadvantages. While it is an excellent place to find information, there is so much of it, and not all of it is correct. This module helps you to limit your searches to reliable sites and to filter the information when you find it.
At its most basic, research on the Internet can be as easy as opening up Google and typing in a few search words. In the last few decades the Internet has had a profound effect on the availability of information, accessible within moments. However that same accessibility can come with certain pitfalls.
While an Internet search can provide quick, in-depth access to data, worldwide, the results may not be reliable. They may be full of errors, affected by bias, or just plain wrong. Most likely, they will not be peer-reviewed, and they also might have issues of copyright. Have a read of this article from the Conversation that details how erroneous information on the Internet spreads: The Conversation - Erroneous Information
In the past, the only way to research was by going to the library, checking through the catalogues or consulting a librarian for a book or article. Now of course we have a wealth of information at our fingertips via the Internet. Let’s now look at how to use that resource.
Sources of Information on the Internet
When using the Internet to research a particular topic, consider the source. Does the writer represent the debate on one particular side? For example, an essay on the falsity of Global Warming could be suspect if it is written by a lobby group opposed to the policies of global warming.
In this section we will have a look at some of the sources of information available on the Internet and how to use them to the best advantage as a student. The four main sources to look at are:
- Wikipedia
- Google Scholar
- University Library
Please see the details below.
Google is the number one search engine used to find information. Sometimes there is too much information, which can make it difficult to sort the relevant from the irrelevant. Some tips to refine a Google search are:
- Try more than one search term.
- When searching for an exact phrase use quotation marks e.g: “agribusiness management” otherwise the search will bring back agribusiness and/or management – a potentially wide range of resources to go through.
- Use Google advanced search. Using advanced search allows you to refine your search to select where you want those search terms to appear eg: in the title of a paper. You can search within a particular date range and within a particular country.
- Search within a website: If you know where the information you are seeking is located you can limit your search to a particular website. For example I may have seen an article in the online version of The Australian. By searching just www.theaustralian.com.au I am much more likely to find the information. See the following website for ‘how to’ do this.
- You can refine your search even further by specifying the type of site you want to search. For example, to limit the responses to only education sites, leave a space after the searching term then add site:edu or even site: edu.au (or .uk etc.) to limit the search to an education site in a particular country. For government sites, use site:gov (or site.gov.au, eg).
Google Scholar
Google Scholar may be a better way to use Google to search for more academic information over the Internet. Google scholar hits on more academic sources such as journal articles than Google does. See the video below, What is the difference between Google and Google Scholar?
This is because Google ranks its search results according to how popular a website is. Therefore, more popular sites such as Wikipedia will appear on Google rather than academic sites. Google Scholar searches academic databases such as online repositories, university databases and academic publishers. It is very useful in bringing back journal articles, theses, abstracts and books of a scholarly nature. Some of these resources may be freely available to download and others may have to be downloaded from your university library.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001. It is the largest and most popular resource on the Internet. The most striking feature is that the entries are written by the people who use it and it is constantly being edited and supposedly is self-correcting. Despite that claim errors can appear in the software and I have found many mistakes over time (mostly trivial but some of significance eg: that Harvard University was founded in 1100!). Almost all entries in Wikipedia contain references – following those references can be valuable in your research. For discussion on the reliability of Wikipedia hit the image below:
The University Library
As a university student you have access to a treasure trove of information available over the Internet via the university library. Familiarity with the resources and databases will ensure the maximum benefit from the service: University of Tasmania library
Commercial databases are purchased by the library and made available to patrons to search over the Internet.
Libraries face a unique challenge in the age of the Internet. Read this Conversation article for the challenges facing libraries in an era of ‘fake news’: The Conversation: Fake News
Recap
Decades ago the only way to research a topic was to visit the library and filter through the physical catalogues for the information you needed. In many ways we are now spoilt for information which can have its own challenges of information overload. By using the tools mentioned above you can filter useful information from irrelevant and erroneous material.
