Leah Graham
Panagiotis Takis Metaxas
Abstract
Students use the Net as a primary source of information, usually with little or no regard as to the accuracy of that information.
- Campbell, J. The case for creating a scholar's portal to the Web: A White Paper. Libraries and the Academy 1, 1 (2001).Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Introna, L. and Nissenbaum, H. Defining the Web: The politics of search engines. IEEE Computer 33, 1 (2000), 54--62. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lynch, B.S. and Bonnie, R.J., Eds. Growing Up Tobacco Free: Preventing Nicotine Addiction in Children and Youths. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1994.Google Scholar
- Salomon, F. et al. The effects of treatment with recombinant human growth hormone on body composition and metabolism in adults with growth hormone deficiency. New England J. Medicine 32, 1 (Dec. 1989).Google Scholar
- Weiler, A. Two-year college freshmen and the Internet: Do they really 'know all that stuff?' Libraries and the Academy 1, 2 (2001).Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- "Of course it's true; I saw it on the Internet!": critical thinking in the Internet era
Recommendations
Reviews
Vasant B. Kaujalgi
One of the most important sources of information for research is the Internet. A number of search engines are used by students to quickly get required information. Is the student in a position, however, to verify the results of such a search, and accept it as true__?__ This paper is an interesting and simple treatment of this question. The efforts of the Association of Research Libraries to come up with an Internet portal that provides "trustworthy" information are important. The authors feel that such an effort will partially succeed. They feel that critical thinking skills should be imparted to students as well, so that information from the Internet can be evaluated properly. The survey in the paper was conducted with 180 Wellesley College students during the years 2000 and 2001. The participants were students in a class titled "Computers and the Internet." The survey was conducted using seven structured emails, sent directly to the students. The three goals of the research were: to understand the dependence of students on the Internet for information; to understand the extent to which claims on the Internet are believed by students; and to determine who is susceptible to misleading information. Four questions were concerned with misinformation, advertising claims, government misinformation, lobby groups, and scams. Two questions were concerned with the accuracy and verification of the information from the Internet. Some of the conclusions reported in the paper are interesting. Students were found to have difficulty recognizing trustworthy sources, and were found to have difficulty distinguishing between advertising and fact. Many students do not double check information. Evaluation of information is not dependent on the number of years a student has used the Internet for research during her academic career. This paper considered only a small sample size of college students, but it introduces and exposes a serious problem: misusing information from the Internet for the purpose of research. I expect this paper to motivate further serious research in this area. Online Computing Reviews Service
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