Writing research papers is the hardest assessment for
students. I think about this as I
procrastinate on writing my own research paper on paleontology, or
fossils. I’ll admit fossils are not as
exciting as you would think. Therefore
it makes it even harder to get excited about writing a term paper on them. However, thanks to the internet it has become
easier to accomplish this task.
Finding sources for a research paper is the hardest part
since it is the starting point. Over the
years the process for this has changed dramatically. The library used to be the place for
this. You would use the card catalogue to
look up the book you need. Once you find it the hunt begins in the maze of
books. I visited the library with this
intention but quickly failed when I could not even find the book in the
system. My failure is the result of
always using internet sources throughout my education.
Instead of going through this headache we have the
convenience of electronic sources. We
are able to access journals, articles and even books with the convenience of
our own computers at home.
The tricky part is to recognize reliable sources. With websites like Wikipedia and other Google
searches, anyone can post material and publish it as a source. As teachers we need to show students how to
recognize these false sources compared with reliable ones. Most libraries have links to electronic
sources that are reliable. This is a
tool that we need to show our students and even give them websites that they
should visit.
I went through the same experience as you did with the card catalogue in the library. I would get very frustrated when I couldn't find the book either and would use an internet source instead because it was faster. Students have become so accustomed to doing this that they do not even realize that books are still around and a very reliable source. Websites sometimes give us wrong or misinterpreted information, whereas a book does not. Teachers, today need to try a little harder to make their students aware of reliable sources, if they choose to use the internet for information. If teachers do not do this, they will be receiving papers with the wrong information and, in turn, the student will receive a poor grade when in reality the teacher is at fault a little bit.
ReplyDeleteIt really is remarkable how many databases are available to use for research. Even primary sources are accessible. I have been able to find scanned copies of letters people wrote during the Civil War, to formally classified documents written to the Secretary of State about issues of national security. While the library still is a great place to go, the amount of data online is stunning.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic, and I enjoyed your post.
-Peter
Suzana,
ReplyDeleteLove your topic for this blog! Being a social studies major this definitely hits home in terms of research papers and online databases. Not only do I use these things for research papers but I know my students will be finding information differently then from when I was in high school. I always remember going to the library and having to use books to find my information and create a research paper. As I learned how to use online databases in college and how easy it is to find primary sources online, writing the research paper became a lot easier. Its remarkable to think about the kind of access we have to certain types of texts. I have found some incredible documents through online databases that have made my research papers so much better. As a teacher, I definitely want to help my students use reliable databases that I have used. History becomes so much more interesting when the actual document is presented and I hope that will help my students when they need to write research papers.
Absolutely, i think as teachers we should show our students how to 1. work the library, and 2. teach them which resources on the internet are the good ones. I am appalled that, even now, i am a senior, my professors have to remind students not to use Wikipedia as a source. Students are not educated on databases for research projects. It is so sad, this is an important thing to know!
ReplyDelete