The Internet . . . a valuable tool for scholars, researchers, and anyone who wants to learn. At the touch of a few keys, you can make travel plans, find the census count for your state, or discover the perfect quote for your research paper.

The Internet . . . a frustrating morass of conflicting ideas, trash scholarship, and bias. At the touch of a few keys, you might confront myriad triple-X pop-up windows, or conjure up millions of useless results on a hit list.

Whether your experience is fabulous or frustrating depends on knowing a few tricks about how to search and interpret results.

• Have a good idea of the types of information that will satisfy your needs. Need a variety of data in order to draw your own conclusions? Brief statistical data would probably be best. Need to inform yourself fully on a topic? Try an organization's fact sheets or FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions - often posted as a link on the organization's Web site). Just need the definition of a word? Break out your print dictionary - the Web's not the best source for everything!
• Get to know one or two search engines well. Study the advanced search tips and use them. The more specifically you are able to frame a search, the more likely it is you'll end up with relevant Web sites to choose from. A result list with about 30 to 35 hits is the most manageable. Think about that the next time you come up with 2,453,934 results!
• Select the most relevant sites from the result list. Learn how to read the information that your search engine provides. A good engine will rank results in relevancy order, give the URL (web address, i.e. - www.CobblestoneOnline.net), and provide a brief description. If the engine also has a directory, a link to the appropriate category can be immensely helpful.
• Evaluate the content of the sites you select. Unless you access an authoritative database of articles and information, such as Cobblestone Online, you must determine the authority and accuracy of any site you may use.

Using another's intellectual property - text, images, audio, or video - requires that you acknowledge the author's contribution to your own scholarship. In a research product - paper or Web site - that means citing direct usage, as well as paraphrased material.

• Write your own paper, but credit those whose ideas you have used. Use a variety of sources, examine the work and opinions of many scholars and draw your own conclusions. But make sure that readers know what is your work and what is the work of others.
• Use the citation method commonly associated with your subject area: literature and language students use MLA style, the sciences use CBE, and the humanities often use APA. Examples of the three styles are given below, in order.
  
  

  Maclean, Francis. "The Making of a General." Footsteps. Sep./Oct. 2000. 14 Jun. 2002.
   <http://www.cobblestonepub.com/pages/ToussaintArticle.html>.
  
  Maclean F. The Making of a General. Footsteps [Internet]. 2000 Sep - Oct [cited 2002 Jun 14]. 
     Available from: http://www.cobblestonepub.com/pages/ToussaintArticle.html
  
  Maclean, Francis (2000). The Making of a General. Footsteps. Retrieved June 13, 2002,
      from http://www.cobblestonepub.com/pages/ToussaintArticle.html

• Just because it's on the Web, doesn't mean it's free. Teachers want to provide their classes with the best information from the most reputable Web sites. Be sure to check each site's copyright permissions before making classroom sets of anything on the Internet. Subscription or licensed services have paid copyright holders for permission to post material, and each content provider will offer a different menu of acceptable uses.

"Electronic References."  APAStyle.org. APA Online. 14 Jun 2002. <http://www.apastyle.org/elecgeneral.html>.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New York: Modern 
     Language Association, 1999.

Patrias, Karen, comp. National Library of Medicine Recommended Formats for Bibliographic 
     Citation Supplement: Internet Formats. United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. July 2001. 
     14 Jun 2002. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/formats/internet.pdf.