The Internet Creates Scary Resources for College Students
Ghosts and Ghouls Share Information at Markosian Library
Kathryn Jones
Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: News
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Use the Internet as your primary source of information for your next research project.
According to Gordon Young, Interim Dean of Learning Resources at SLCC, "People assume whatever you pick up [on the Internet] is fact," when the truth is that what they find may simply be someone's personal opinion, or worse, untruths spouted as correct information.
"We are dealing with a new generation of students who were raised on the Internet who believe that everything you need to know is there," said Jon Glenn, Director of Reference and E-Services at SLCC as he spoke about a recent survey conducted by SLCC.
The survey found twice as many students using the Internet for research over books or the library's electronic sources-sources like Academic Search Premier, a database that provides the complete text of over four thousand scholarly publications and over three thousand scholarly journals, including medical journals.
"It's all right there," said Young who spoke about the magazines and journals that can be accessed with just the press of a few buttons on your computer. "But students, even some teachers, don't know that we are here."
"We have students come into the library and tell us that they looked for journal articles on the Internet and either didn't find anything or what they found required they either subscribe to the magazine or pay for the article," Glenn said.
According to Glenn, the library is able to give a student access to over ten thousand different magazines, journals and newspapers for free, including over a million citations and over a hundred thousand full text articles.
Because the library has purchased rights to the articles, nothing is expected of the patron except an opportunity to glean information through the college/library website or books without the worry of using "a lot of bad information of questionable authority," said Glenn.
"Not knowing what tools are available or how to access them can have a frighteningly negative effect on the quality of your paper and your grade," he added.
According to Gordon, about 99 percent of a student's total research needs can be obtained through the college library system but occasionally, when the entire article is not available, the library uses a system called the Inter Library Loan. This system locates the article at the closest college or university, and if not found, the library searches within the state and then across the country.
