Thursday, August 19, 2010
For having grown up with the onset of the Internet, our generation may not be all that Web savvy when it comes to researching, a study by the International Journal of Communication suggests.
The study, written and conducted by professors at Northwestern University, found that students often only chose websites that appeared at the top of Google searches to complete tasks or perform research. Eszter Hargittai, associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern and one of the study’s authors, said that most mistakes in the Web research process occur before students even click “Search.”
“I think part of it is not so much necessarily what else they can be using,” Hargittai said. “I think a big part of it is being more critical and careful about what they are already using.”
Hargittai said that search results aren’t necessarily ranked in terms of credibility. More sophisticated queries are also needed to glean credible sources from popular search engines.
University of Kansas students have nearly 400 databases at their fingertips, with information on every subject at the University that is not usually found through Google searches.
Tami Albin, undergraduate instruction and outreach librarian, often helps students interested in improving their ability to navigate the library’s extensive online resources. She said that whether a student is using Google or a library database, a level of skill is needed to effectively complete a desired task online.
“The research process, you know, it’s like anything else,” Albin said. “You learn how to do something well over time. With new technologies, you have to learn how to do research different ways. A student who jumps online and pulls three articles off of the Internet and then writes a paper on it and hands it in the next day is not going to get really, really good grades.”
Albin said that students are welcome to bring assignments to the library to review with a librarian and seek the proper avenue for research.
“Librarians love to find stuff, so we’re really good at it,” Albin said. “We can find ways to access the things they need.”
While Alec Rothman, a sophomore from Boston, is an exception to the rule, Thea Glassman, a sophomore from New York City, affirms the study’s results.
Rothman said he most often uses the library’s databases or news sources such as The New York Times when working on a project. Rothman analyzes the assignment and considers what research will be necessary before logging on. He said that these skills were instilled during a freshman English course.
“My English teacher last year actually looked at our bibliographies before he read our papers to see how valid our sources were,” Rothman said. “And once he saw we had proper citations he had more trust in our writing. And so that credibility is really key to getting a good grade.”
Glassman instead finds herself usually clicking the first option Google suggests.
“I feel like I like to think I have a pretty good gauge of what seems reliable and what doesn’t on the Internet,” Glassman said.
That strategy is far from foolproof. Glassman recalled an assignment in high school where she used one source for a paper only to find another the day before it was due that refuted most of what she had found.
Similar scenarios occurred when Northwestern researchers conducted their study at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Students sat at computers with researchers and were asked to perform a series of tasks online.
One task was to search for AIDS testing in the city. Hargittai said that many students selected a clinic that charged for testing, one of the first search results, while several free options existed. Another task asked for students to find a section from Romeo and Juliet and found that, had they dug deep enough, the entire text could be found for free.
“In some ways it’s so easy to get content that people forget that to get the most relevant content in concentrations you still need to go a little deeper,” Hargittai said.
— Edited by Clark Goble
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Comments
Online research methods may not be credible
Yeah, but how did most of those students do on the assignments? I looked through the study and couldn't find specific numbers to support your claims. Also, in the introduction, it states that students who use offline material, such as books, are just as indiscriminate with the materials they use. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't see the point, other than libraries can help you with papers. Well, no duh. Here's the link to the full study. Please respond if you can tell me otherwise. http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/636/423
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