In the past five years or so, I've noticed a decline in students' research skills. I think the Internet is to blame, at least in part. Many of us - librarians and teachers - assumed that students could learn research skills regardless of the medium employed. I'm no longer so sure.

Let me explain by describing two different classes I worked with recently. Both were researching historical topics with the ultimate goal of creating a PowerPoint presentation. On the first day of research, Teacher A's class came in and listened to me describe some good starting points in our print collection and remind them about the information-seeking strategies we've focused on this year. They then went immediately to the computers to log on to the Internet. As I circulated through the library, I found many students hard at work - reading their e-mail, checking out the current availability of paintball equipment on Ebay, looking at pictures from the school prom . . . you get the idea.

Then I met with Teacher B's class. They came in, listened to me give the same talk, and went immediately to the reference books I had pointed out. They took the books back to their tables and began taking notes. The difference? Teacher A gave his class an assignment that described the final product expected, then let the students go. Teacher B, on the other hand, required her students to use the print materials before they went to the computers. Furthermore, they were required to take notes in their own handwriting, define 10 terms of their choice, and come up with 10 questions they wanted to answer about their topic. On the second day of research, when they were allowed to use electronic resources, these students were much more focused than the first group. I found very few who were not "on task."

While it may seem old-fashioned, I believe the approach used by Teacher B provides many benefits for students. First, taking notes in their own handwriting forces students to think about what they're reading and decide what's important to their topic in ways that cutting, pasting, and printing do not. Students can tell you something about their topic after writing it down. Many cannot do that after printing because they haven't actually read what they've printed out.

Why can't students just take notes from the computer? Well, because note-taking from print sources is, in many ways, easier. The distance from a print source to a note card is usually only a few inches. But in our library, the distance from the top of a computer screen to a typical workstation desktop is two feet, making it easy to lose your place. In addition, taking notes from monitor to paper requires your eyes to focus differently for each type of surface, increasing the eye and neck strain associated with computers.

Requiring students to use print materials first can also ensure that every student has the chance to do research. In my library, we have only 14 student workstations, not nearly enough to handle an entire class. But we have enough print materials to let all students be successful during the class period.

Perhaps the most important benefit to using only print at the beginning is that students are more focused when they do use the electronic resources. Having completed some of their research, they are aware of the information they still need and have more motivation to find it. They're also more able to ignore the temptations of e-mail, Ebay, and the pictures from the prom.

I know some of you may think me sacrilegious for favoring print over online sources at the beginning of the research process. I might have thought that myself a few years ago. Now, I'm encouraged by Teacher B and others like her, who are requiring students to begin the old-fashioned way. I'm not saying that print is inherently superior to electronic media. What I'm saying is that the way students use print - especially at the beginning of a project - is more helpful to them. From my experience, having teachers require the use of print resources with handwritten notes enhances students' subsequent use of electronic resources. This is a practice I definitely plan to encourage.

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