Internet Research
This is probably the most common use of computers today in social studies with word processing coming in second. Unfortunately many teachers who assign research on the Internet have not properly instructed their students in both how to search the Internet, and more importantly, how to evaluate what they find. This is perhaps the easiest way to integrate the use of a computer into a curriculum that has research components. Listed below are some guidelines teachers should consider before they have their students conduct Internet Research.
Reasons why Internet Research is a positive method of research.
1: Internet is the BEST resource for current events. Updates are constant on good sites.
2: Pictures and sounds may aid in researchers' understanding of an issue.
3: It is relatively easy to update the internet so webpages are likely to have more up to date interpretations, facts and findings than a social studies text.
4: Easier to print, or save and edit pictures off the internet for use in projects than to photo copy out of books.
**Things to consider before having a class conduct Internet Research**
The Teacher should be familiar with the Internet and various search engines. Maybe not an expert, the teacher should have some idea what is out there and the best ways to find it.
Stuff on search engines
The Teacher should learn and instruct or, at the very least, hand out to students a paper that goes over Boolean search language and which of the popular engines use them. The knowledge and use of this language makes it much easier to navigate through information on the Internet.
Teacher should mention methods to broaden or narrow search criteria. This is self-explanatory, the notion that a student doing a report on the Cuban Missile Crisis might have to narrow the search (Cuban Missile Crisis blockade) or expand it (cold war) to find the appropriate information. You never know how a site with the information you want is listed as on the Search Engines.
Teacher must show students how to evaluate the legitimacy of information available on the web by doing some of the following:
1: Check the site for the last time it was updated.- Older sites, most likely, do not have the newest information.
2: Look at the site's sponsor. Colleges and Universities and museums as well as non profit or learning centered sites have the best info. Probably not a great idea to use a site on the achievement of African Americans sponsored by the Klu Klux Klan.
3: Look in the address for the site's designation as com, edu, org, gov. Most edu, and gov sites are good places for information. There are some great com and org sites out there as well but some are just for fun or random peoples' and groups' ideas.
4: Try to determine the Purpose of the website. If they are selling something or promoting a particular idea then their information might not be correct and could be extremely biased.
5: Look for the author of the website and see if there is any information about him or her. This is Not always available. In cases that it is, check to see what the author's qualifications are so you can then determine how much you can rely on their information.
6: See if the information is similar to other reliable information. Cross reference either from other websites, or from texts and periodical articles.
7: Make sure that students know the correct way to site their web sources. Most major systems now have methods for this type of citation. Below are sites that will explain how to site electronic sources for two popular systems.