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Basic Library Tutorial

Book with Magnifying GlassEvaluate Your Sources

WHAT ABOUT WEB SITES?
 
The World Wide Web contains a wealth of information; however, you must be very careful when using the Web for research purposes. There are no quality standards for putting information on the Web, and as a result many Web pages contain unreliable, even false, information. For this reason, your instructor(s) may limit use of Web pages for your research projects. The Web can be a wonderful resource for certain purposes; it may not, however, be the best place to go for academic research.
 

Several popular myths about the Web:

  1. Everything is available on the Web - Copyright law prevents many publications from being available on the Web.  For example, most scholarly journal articles are not available on the Web for free.
  2. Everything on the Web is free - If everything were available for free on the Web, then most publishers probably would be out of business and writers would receive limited compensation for their work!  Much of the best information delivered through the Web is provided by commercial vendors.

Fact:

The library pays for many Web-based periodical indexes and full-text databases so that SLU students, faculty and staff may use them without having to pay.
     

SELF TEST:

1.  All information on the Web has gone through a review process to make sure that it is high quality.

True
False

2. Web-based library databases are more reliable than the Web for finding scholarly articles.

True
False

3. Most published material, including books and periodicals, can be found somewhere on the Web.

True
False

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Last updated July 13, 2003.

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