According to the October 16th edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "The very way online information is accessed -- by jumping from one Web site to the next -- does little to encourage linear thought as is used when reading a book."
College students of this generation have grown up with the benefit of the vast reaches of the internet, and the several new search engines that tend to pop up monthly when trying to find information. We've all gotten the speeches on how the internet has 'unsafe information' or facts that have no credibility, yet.... What is the automatic resource that students turn to now when starting a research paper or project? You guessed it, the internet. Some may ask, "What's the problem in that?"
"Students over the years, I think, are losing a sense of tone," said David Miller, chairman of the English department at Allegheny College. "When you read text, one of the most important things you need to intuit is the tone of the writer's voice and the continuousness of things." Encouraging students to take a trip to the library, *gasp* what a thought! Dr. Miller also goes on however to marvel at the wide selection of what can be found on the internet and what online databases have access to.
Essentially, the article stresses what we have all heard dozens of times from professors and high school teachers alike in encouraging students to be wary of the simple solution of going to the internet for all information, and really, they have good reason to stress the point. With something as accessible and simple to use as the internet for researching any imaginable topic, it's a hard temptation to move away from for the busy student on the go. I agree completely that libraries and scholarly journals should be used more often in the student's game plan, but at the same have to say that we have to help our own students move into the future as well.
Should we as teachers incorporate a lesson plan or two devoted to teaching students how to properly use the internet for research purposes? I think for the sake of everyone involved it would be a great idea.
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Carrisa, I'll answer your question, even if it is rhetorical. Absolutely we as teachers should devote a lesson or two to the proper use of the internet for research papers and other information seeking projects.
There is a sincere threat of students not knowing what sources are credible and there is another threat which Dr. Miller addresses in the article, which is the lack of tone in students writing. The most enjoyable
part of reading is responding to the author's tone. The internet is home to plenty of garbage websites, however if utilized properly it can be a wonderful tool for reasearch and learning. There is no doubt that in this
age of technology there is a lack of library skills, leaving books and scholarly journals to gather dust on the shelves. As teachers we have the responsibility to balance the two, and express the importance of both to our students
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