Guilford College Writing Manual

It's worth reemphasizing at the outset an important principle: the quality of material that you can find on the Internet is extremely variable. In most cases, there is no guarantee that the material is (1) accurate or (2) up-to-date. Keep in mind that the Internet was not designed to be a repository of information but rather a communication mode and a means of sharing computer resources.

What's on the Web (generally):

• Current issues and popular culture
• Government-related information
• Organizations and associations
• Technology
• Consumer interests and hobbies
• Education
• Materials in the public domain

What's not (generally):

• Materials pre-1991
• Scholarly material (growing but not a major force)
• Copyrighted/licensed material

What you need to search for Websites is a search engine (e.g., Lycos, Infoseek). A problem you face as a researcher is that search engines gather resources indiscriminately, unlike libraries. There is not much overlap between search engines, meaning that you'll want to use a search engine that is truly comprehensive or plan to use multiple search engines.

Currently, Altavista ( www.altavista.com) may be the best comprehensive search engine. It is updated weekly, it is the largest (140M links and growing), and it has a good reputation for finding obscure topics.

A search engine recommended for its selectivity and its orientation to scholarship is Scout Report (scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout). It also uses Library of Congress Subject Headings.

To access materials provided by librarians on how to evaluate Websites, type in "evaluating Websites" as a search subject.