Why Use the Web?

• It's easy and many people already know how to use the Web and do so daily
• It's huge--the Web includes primary, secondary, and teritary sources
• It's often current and includes the newest, cutting edge information
• It's information is accessible and usually free to read and use

Why Be Careful?

• There is often no review process for information posted online--information may not be accurate
• Anyone can publish anything on the Web, so you may be viewing inaccurate information presented by a non-expert
• Not all information on the Web is free or safe to download/view
• Information on the Web is often not organized well--making searching time consuming and sometimes ineffective
• Most information on the Web is not permanent

For information on how to find quality, scholarly websites and how to choose good sources online, visit the Evaluating Resources page.

When using Web resourcse you MUST make sure that you evaluate each source for accuracy, currency, authority, objectivity, and coverage. Check out the Evaluating Resources page for more information.

You don't want to wade through millions of Web pages. By using a few tricks, you can focus your searches relatively easily to those authoritative, reliable sources you want to use.  

Use key search terms - Use the same search terms you used successfully to find books and articles.  

Use search tools you can trust - These three subject directories were built by librarians and are filled with Web resources that have been evaluated for credibility and organized so you can use them easily.

• BUBL
• Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
• ipl2: Information You Can Trust

Know your search tool - Use advanced search features to control your search. For example you can limit your search in Google to just search government or educational Web sites by limiting to a specific domain. 

Why can't you just Google? Check out this video to find out: