Library Research Skills
Suggestions for Tutors
Most students prefer using the Internet for research and recreation. They will spend countless hours searching and surfing. However, they may not completely understand the Internet's strengths and weaknesses as both a research tool and as a general source of information. Here are some suggestions to help you design effective and successful Internet searching and learning experiences.
Provide Guidance
If you know the URL, provide it. This way, students and learners should have no trouble getting to the web site.
Plan Ahead
Check to make sure that the site is still working a few days before giving the assignment. Web pages have a strange way of vanishing without any warning. Alternately, provide several different sites to visit just in case one or two disappear.
Request a Hard (Backup) Copy
Have students make a print copy of the web site (Netscape automatically prints the date and time of access) or else ask them to note the date and time they used the site. This should help clear up any problems if the information changes all of a sudden, leaving some students with out-of-date material.
Avoid Busywork
Ask students to do more than just fetch something off the Internet. Require them to visit one or more sites or search by topic. You might have them compare or evaluate several similar sites. Give them a list of criteria to follow for their comparison or evaluation.
If assigning a research project that either wholly or partially includes internet sources, ask student to include their search strategy as a component of the research project. Request that they analyse methods they used to refine their search and what made the search more and less successful.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Susan Kelly, Wexford County Library Service.
Adapted and modified (5th December 2005) from TILT, Texas Information Literacy Tutorial. This material is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the TILT Open Publication Licence. (the latest version is presently available at http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/yourtilt/).
