how is conducting online research different from conducting research in a traditional library?

Answer 1

One difference is that, in a traditional library, someone has selected the resources that you use to do your research and professionals are available to help and teach you how to use them. Some of the resources available in a traditional library are online resources which are fee-based [the fee is paid by the library] and wouldn't be available to you otherwise. Some examples: Proquest, Newsbank, Ebsco, Wilson Indexes, Lexus-Nexus, back issues of some newspapers and periodicals, etc. are only available at a cost which would be prohibitive and impractical for an individual. When you depend on sources that are free, you are missing out on a lot of good stuff.

If you do your "research" on the internet on your home computer, you may be limited to sources that are commercial, sponsored, and free of cost to you. Also the judgement about whether a source is reliable and accurate must be made by you alone. Anyone can put anything on a website and the result is that there is a lot of "crap" on the internet. It is up to the user to decide whether the information they find is reliable or not. This is not easy.

There are similarities also. For example, searching for books in libraries is almost always done using a computer these days. The skills required to do an effective search of an online library catalog or an online database are similar to those required to do a good search with an online search engine such as Yahoo or Google.

Finally, one difference is that the contents of books and other printed material isn't always available anywhere else except in printed form and some reliable web content is only available online. So, the best research technique needs to include both a traditional library using the resources and staff available, AND using the internet.

Answer 2

You conduct library research in a library and online research online. Got it? Good.

Answer 3

Library research
Pros
- Get out of the house
- Save money on running your own air conditioner
- People are there to help you if you are stuck

Cons
- Library printed material may be out dated
- If you find something you like, you have to either pay to make a copy or write them down by hand

Internet research
Pros
- You don't have to get out of the house
- Save gas money by not having to go anywhere
- You get to find a lot of stuff very fast
- Probably more up to date information
- If you find something you like, you can copy and past into another document easily

Cons
- Some information out there on the net are just not true. Don't believe everything you read on the net

So as a compromise, I suggest that you go to use computers in the library to access the Internet. Then you got both bases covered!

Answer 4

i'm conducting online research right now in a traditional library and it's great.

http://empl.lib.il.us/

Answer 5

The differences I see is the Internet has way more information right at your fingertips. You don't have to leave home. You can ask live questions about something you don't understand and it's incredibly fast.

Library's for research may be becoming a thing of the past.

Answer 6

On line most information is not 100% reliable where as on the library, well you can always blame the editor or the librarian.

Answer 7

If you are doing the research online, you need to make sure that the articles you are finding are credible. One way to do this is to search for journal articles. If you use ERIC, you will probably find a lot of credible sources.

Answer 8

internet sources are not as reliable as books, any jo schmo can proclaim to be an expert on heart surgery, doesn't mean he knows what he is talkin about... you have to be really careful about what information you use from the internet, make sure it's reliable.

Answer 9

you can't do library research naked

Answer 10

How about the 'speed of Light'...vs... 'horse and buggy'?