Research: Web Sources

So you’re determined to find as much information as you can while wearing your pajamas and drinking coffee?  The web is actually a very good source for research, provided you know what to accept as truth — and what to discard. Although most of us are pretty good at reading and interpreting sites, maybe this list or the indexes shown above will help.


VT Library Online

In fact, even if you plan to go to the library later, you can begin your research on the web.  Virginia Tech’s library site not only gives you access to an online catalog, but it also provides you with online access to any number of indexes through article databases.  And you don’t even have to pick up a pen to write down your research notes:  you can choose to email yourself titles of books and periodicals, with all bibliographic information, that you think might be useful.

Article Databases

Generally accessible through a library site, article databases (Figure 13.1) provide online collections of articles (some in full; some summarized). Since these are generally scholarly sources, they can be trusted. However, there is one thing to keep in mind:  you cannot quote from a summary of an article, as it is not the “real thing” (just a shortened version). If you can’t find the article in its entirety online—and most scholarly journals do not post them—then you need to get it from the library.

Newspaper/News Sites

Since most newspaper and news sites tend to mirror hard copies of the same – The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN Online – you know that you can trust the source.  However, since nowadays more and more news sources are being accused of maintaining political stances, it doesn’t hurt to expand your search beyond a single source. Verify a story’s accuracy by seeing how several sources represent it.

Magazine Sites

If you’re searching through online versions of The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, Rolling Stone, or any other magazine you can find on the newsstand, then you’re okay. But what about purely online magazines or magazines established by a particular group, available only through that group’s site?  Be careful about those!

Sponsored Web Sites

This doesn’t mean a site sponsored by a company for profit, but instead one sponsored by an organization, a government entity, a college or university, among others.  Sites with .org, .gov, and .edu addresses can be trusted.

Beyond that, the web is the world, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Since anyone with a computer and web access can post a site, you have to be discerning when you branch out beyond these basic sources.

What to Avoid

Common sense tells us to be wary of viewing as expert information found on the following sorts of sites:

  • Individual web sites (student, public, etc.)
  • Listservs, bulletin boards, and Usenet sites
  • Sites of organizations devoted to a controversial issue
  • Political party sites
  • Non-juried online encyclopedias (and you know what this means!)

At these and other sites, opinion, half-truths, and ideology can take precedence over the facts.  Don’t take info from these sites unless you are using it to prove a point, such as non-juried online encyclopedias often contain erroneous information or sites created by political parties present slanted perspectives on controversial issues.