The answer to this question is that the Web can indeed be very useful in research, but that it is necessary to understand how to use it; it's also necessary to understand what is on the Web and -- more importantly -- what isn't on the Web. In order to do this, we need to understand a few basic things about the Web.
The "Internet Fallacy"
The "Internet Fallacy" is essentially the false belief that "everything is on the Web". The reality is much different:
- FACT: Everything is not on the Web.
- FACT: Information not available for free on the Web includes virtually all copyright-protected documents (e.g., journal articles, conference literature, most books).
- FACT: Information not on the Web includes the majority of everything ever published. One significant reason for this state-of-affairs is simply the fact that large-scale print-to-electronic conversion is labor-intensive and expensive.
Things to be Aware of When Using the Internet for Research
Copyright Law
- Copyright law protects the intellectual property and products of information producers, such as book publishers, magazine and journal publishers, and others.
- Publishers make their money by selling books, magazine, movies and music- why would they want to give it away for free on the Internet?
Web Noise
- There is no doubt that there is a lot of information on the Internet- billions of pages worth.
- The Internet contains a lot of scholarly, useful, well reputed websites, but there is also a lot of junk out there. Anyone can publish information on the Web, so it is important to learn how to evaluate where the information came from.
Inadequate Web Information Retrieval on the Web
- There is a lot of information on the Internet that search engines cannot reach, including scholarly databases that require a subscription for one to access.
- Also, search engines such as Google and Yahoo do not index a wealth of valuable research material available in digital libraries.
Professional Authors Don't Rely Solely on the Internet- Neither Should You
Consider the following citation analyses of two issues from a year of the professional journal Research in Nursing & Health (RT 81.5 .R46):
| Issue | Articles | Total References | References that Cite Web Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | 7 | 317 | 13 (4.1%) |
| August 2011 | 8 | 378 | 13 (3.4%) |
| TOTALS | 15 | 695 | 26 (3.7%) |
About 4% of the references were to Web sites. An evaluation of the web resources reveals that they are creditable sources, such as government statistics, and the research sites of scholars. Although the Web clearly has revolutionized research, in addition to facilitating communication, this citation analysis suggests that solid scholarly research still relies on traditional library resources, although they now are accessed online as well.