The Internet is many college students’ favorite way of accessing information, and it’s true that much information—including authoritative sources identical to those your library provides—can be found online, sometimes for free. However, information in library databases comes from identifiable and professionally edited sources; because no one is responsible for regulating information on the Web, you need to take special care to find out which information online is reliable and which is not. (See Chapter 12 for more on evaluating sources.)

Searching the Internet

Research using a search tool such as Google usually begins with a keyword search (11c). Choose keywords carefully to improve the odds of finding what you’re looking for. For example, if you’re searching for information on legal issues regarding the Internet and enter Internet and law as keywords in a Google search, you will get over three million possible sources. You may find what you need on the first page or two of results, but if not, choose new keywords that lead to more specific sources. Look for a search engine’s search tips or advanced search options for help with refining and limiting a keyword search.

Many people begin and end Internet searches with Google. However, every search tool has unique properties. If you try other search engines or a metasearch tool that searches multiple search engines simultaneously, you may find that one of them has capabilities that are particularly helpful for your purposes.

Using bookmarking tools

Today’s powerful bookmarking tools can help you browse, sort, and track resources online. Social bookmarking sites allow users to tag information and share it with others. If you find a helpful site, you can check to see how others have tagged it and quickly browse similar tags to find related information. You can sort and group information according to your tags. Users whose tagged sites you like and trust can become part of your network so that you can follow their sites of interest.

Web browsers can also help you bookmark and return to online resources. However, unlike the bookmarking tools in a Web browser, which are tied to one machine, you can use social bookmarking tools wherever you have an Internet connection.

Finding authoritative sources online

You can find many authoritative and credible sources online. You can browse collections in virtual libraries, for example, or collections housed in government sites such as the Library of Congress, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Census Bureau. For current national news, consult online versions of reputable newspapers such as the New York Times or the Washington Post or electronic sites for news services such as C-SPAN. Google Scholar can help you limit searches to scholarly works.

Some scholarly journals (such as those from Berkeley Electronic Press) and general-interest magazines (including Slate and Salon) are published only online, and many popular print publications make at least some of their contents available free on the Web.

Talking the Talk: Wikis as sources