This paper examines the growing role of online information in academic and professional work. It provides practical guidance on conducting effective online searches, evaluating source credibility, and properly citing digital materials. The paper discusses advantages such as broad access and current data, while addressing limitations including misinformation, outdated links, and widespread plagiarism. It emphasizes the importance of finding primary sources, understanding search strategies, and maintaining ethical standards when using online resources—skills essential for students, professionals, and everyday information seekers.
The availability of online information has made a tremendous difference in many fields of endeavor, including daily interactions. Many journals now publish articles as "online first" before print versions appear; others comment on and critique these online articles even before the print issue exists. Online access also broadens the ease of accessing materials without relying on a nearby extensive library. This is true in nearly every profession: science, economics, finance, business, nursing, medicine, and hairdressing (Leiner et al., 2003). Access to online information has fundamentally changed the information paradigm. There is now a necessity and obligation to understand what constitutes appropriate online information.
The use of social media and online tools for information searching and access has increased considerably in recent years. Information is not only proliferating but is being shared more quickly than when print was the only medium available. The use of online media represents a revolution comparable to the societal transformation caused by the printing press. Individuals can communicate in real time with others across international time zones and search for information using online platforms such as chat rooms, WebMD, Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, and YouTube (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 59).
Online businesses are thriving, with companies like Amazon moving from being book sellers to include movie and grocery businesses; others like Walmart.com sell as much online as they do in physical stores. Individuals start up their own businesses with merely an online presence. The "information highway" provides businesses with details of customer preferences from Facebook "likes," and many corporations now maintain a Facebook presence, while corporate consultants write online articles on using Twitter and Facebook to grow business (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 60). Individuals meet, "friend," and marry others whom they have met online, and dating sites match up individuals; specialized niche markets are arising in all directions. However, the "glut of information" means an individual can fall prey to false and misleading information if they do not know how to investigate and verify online sources, business reputation, and the veracity of personal details from a new Facebook contact who might be a predator.
For most individuals, a precise understanding of what "online sources" means may be limited. Many have not considered that the internet can simultaneously be full of factual resources and full of misinformation. Using the web to find answers to questions has become almost trivial—one only needs to type a few words or phrases into a search window to have many pages of links to sources appear.
The first step in obtaining information is knowing how to ask the right questions. Search engines now will accept almost any question and provide answers, but the more clearly the question is phrased and the more delimiting terms used, the more likely one is to actually find the desired information (Macaulay, n.d.). Consider a hypothetical situation in which your mother has elevated blood pressure first thing every morning. You type in "cause of morning elevated blood pressure" and find a variety of sites. Many of the sites listed will be sales pitches, as that is how "free" search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo generate income. Many other sites will be advertisements disguised as helpful information, and still others will be misinformation sites. What should she and you do? Consider looking for reliable sources of online medical advice, such as WebMD or Wikipedia, a compendium of information like an encyclopedia. Because online users can contribute to Wikipedia and it is thus "collaborative" (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 60), Wikipedia is very powerful. Additionally, Wikipedia articles have detailed reference lists, leading to checkable primary sources.
The types of information available online are increasing, including ancient artifact photos, maps, and letters. The types of sites where information can be found vary widely. Some sites require one to sign in and become a subscriber to gain information; subscription fees may be prohibitively expensive, even if useful. Other sites may send emails and newsletters even to individuals who are not full subscribers, and as Vardi (2012, p. 510) notes, there are also traps even for more advanced professionals. In the areas of medical and scientific research, a considerable amount of data is available free of charge, such as on the PubMed database; many articles can be seen in their entirety by simply clicking "free full article."
Once one finds appropriate reference information for a course paper or article, proper use of citations and listing the full online source enables others to find the same information. Online papers and reviews of books can be tremendously valuable for those without a large budget for books or access to a complete library. Proper citation of an online document includes the author's name, publication name and date, volume, issue, and page numbers, as well as other details such as publisher and editors (Castle, 2007, p. 163). When citing an online source, providing the online link in the bibliography or reference list and the date accessed is important; websites may be updated, and online data may be altered or removed. Referencing styles vary according to discipline, with scientific references usually numbered in the text (as on Wikipedia), whereas scholarly articles in other fields use in-text author names.
Perhaps the best way to approach the use of online sources is to be aware that perhaps 50 to 60 percent of data found in a general search using Google, Bing, or Yahoo is likely to be sales- and business-related and may not be scholarly. While this may be an exaggeration, it is important to find primary sources. When searching specific databases such as PubMed, there are no advertisements, and only scientific studies are found. Then one is enabled to review and select relevant publications, limited only by appropriate search terms—perhaps one of the most important aspects of using online data. One of the best ways to conduct an online search is to discuss search terms with the course instructor and library professionals. The methods of metacognition (HLN, 2004) can be very useful in considering how to perform a search; this is especially true because we do not all think alike and might use different words when writing on the same topic—for example, "ancient art," "historical art," or "prehistoric art." This is where collaboration can be helpful (CWP, 2010). According to Trinkle (1996), books can sometimes be helpful, such as The European History Highway: A Guide to Internet Resources.
Following a successful online search, one must carefully examine the sources found to evaluate their credibility and properly list the source in one's report. As stated by Metzger (2007), one should verify that the report still holds—that it has not been "corrected" or "retracted"—and that the validity of the article has not been altered by a new, contradictory report. Some web articles that are not primary sources may excerpt part of an article to provide a particular "slant." This is why primary sources are important. Additionally, sometimes authors were funded to write a report, and this information is required for scientific journals as "conflict of interest" statements, but may not be required in all fields. One consideration is to avoid websites for which it is not obvious why they were formed, which may be indicative of a hidden agenda or data slant.
Advantages to online sources include the ability to readily access more sources than might be available locally; accessing information regardless of one's location; being able to work collaboratively; and accessing the most current data. It can also be less expensive if one is creative, perhaps avoiding the necessity to buy textbooks and journals, and it provides more diverse types of information, such as access to governmental and global organization databases like the World Health Organization or the United Nations.
However, as discussed above, online data may be contaminated with a large percentage of business sales pages disguised as real primary information. These sites may make claims that are not backed up with source material. Additionally, because anyone with the skills to create a web page can do so, there may be false and slanted information that appears valid. This is likely to be particularly true in the political arena. While it is true that credible sources require subscriptions for full access, a paid subscription may not be necessary. Leading scientific journals have "open access" for some articles and will often provide newsletter information to nonsubscribers. A large drawback to online information may be that sites change frequently, and once-good citations may lead to "dead" pages with no information directing one to new source material. Additionally, even highly collaborative sites such as Wikipedia do have material that is biased on some topics, despite best efforts. One must learn to check references and sources.
"Ethical concerns and intellectual property in online spaces"
The use of online sources for information has tremendous benefits that would appear to outweigh their limitations. These data are generally readily available and can be used and compared for personal, family, and community information, as well as serving as sources for students, professors, and many professionals in a variety of fields. Once one understands both the benefits and limitations of using online information sources, data can readily be compared and evaluated in terms of both utility and accuracy. From the household search for lower grocery prices to the student search for research information, and even research use for professionals, the online environment makes information access far easier than it once might have been.
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