Using the Internet Like an Adult

The Internet is a wonderful tool. It has revolutionized university education and scholarly research, and we are likely to see even further developments in web-based resources and communication in the future. The world is a smaller place than it was before. Scholars from different countries collaborate on joint research projects, students share experiences with colleagues around the world, and policy makers and the public at large have found easier access through the web to the unique expertise offered in universities, colleges, and research institutes.

But as with all sources of information and analysis, we need to approach the Internet with a healthy sense of skepticism. The Internet is here to stay, but using it effectively means learning not to take at face value everything that you find in cyberspace.

Below is some practical advice for students who use web-based resources in their research and learning.

The Web and Non-Web Resources (i.e., dusty old things called books and articles)

The great advantage of the web—its accessibility—is also its chief disadvantage. Compare an article on a webpage with an article published in a book or a scholarly journal. Here is how the business of getting a scholarly article published works (it may give you some indication of what your professors do when they are not lecturing and why they get angry when you ask about their summer “break”):

Articles appearing in professional journals or in books produced by major publishing houses go through a rigorous process called “peer review”. The author, often a university professor, first sends his or her manuscript to the editor of a particular journal. The editor then sends the manuscript out to at least two (and often more) scholars who are considered leading experts on the subject of the manuscript. The manuscript is prepared in such a way that these expert readers (called “referees”) cannot tell who the author is: no references to the author in the text, no “by-line” on the title page, etc. The referees then write up a detailed report on the manuscript—what the manuscript’s contribution to knowledge is, how well the author used the available sources, how convincing the argument is, and so forth. Their task is to be highly critical and to punch holes in the argument, method, and sources wherever they can. The referees then send back their reports to the journal’s editor, who communicates the content of the reports to the author. The process is often called “double-blind reviewing,” since the expert readers do not know who the author is and, in turn, the author does not know who the expert readers are. The journal’s editor is the only person who knows both author and expert readers. Based on the readers’ reports, the editor decides whether to publish the article as it is (a very rare outcome), to publish the article after the author has made certain revisions to the text (a more likely outcome), or to reject the manuscript completely (probably the most likely outcome). The whole process from submission of the manuscript to publication can take a year or more. A similar process works with book manuscripts submitted to university presses such as Oxford University Press or Princeton University Press, as well as respected commercial publishing houses such as Knopf, Norton, and Routledge. The goal is to make sure that articles and books that find their way into the public domain are of the highest possible quality. (There are, of course, publishers that are less rigorous than this, but they are not among the most respected).

Contrast all this with the way that information finds it way to the web. First, someone sits down at a computer and writes something. Next, he or she converts the text to HTML, the code language of web-based documents. Then, the author uploads it to a webpage. That’s it. However fancy the page, the web is, in this sense, no more than a gigantic global bulletin board.

So, some caution is in order when using web-based information resources. But how are you supposed to know whether what you find in cyberspace is reliable? If you read a book published by, say, Harvard University Press, you can usually bet that the information is reliable and the scholarship sound, even if you disagree with the author’s argument. But on the web, how do you tell what’s what? Here are some hints.

Some Caveats About Webpages

Keep the following points in mind when you access a website. These are helpful rules of thumb for trying to determine how reasonable and reliable the information presented on the site is likely to be:

Consider the Source

What is the source of the information presented on the website? Who owns the site and how reputable is the owner? Is it a political party, or a special-interest group, or a religious movement, or an individual web-user? If you know something about the owner’s background, you will be better able to judge the objectivity of the information presented on the site.

Look for Facts, Not Just Opinions

Is the site polemical (that is, arguing strongly for a particular point of view) or mainly informational? Does the information on the website offer opposing opinions? Is the purpose of the site to persuade or to inform? If you are looking for a balanced account of a particular issue, beware of websites that try to convince you that only one way of seeing things is the right one. Polemical websites can be useful for some research projects, especially if you are looking at different sides in a debate. But avoid using sites that have axes to grind as sources of objective information.

Check the Sell-By Date

When was the website most recently updated? Is the information presented likely to have changed since the owner last altered the website? Most respectable sites will have a “last updated” line somewhere near the bottom of the homepage, especially if the site’s content is time-sensitive. This should give you some indication of how reliable the information is. Websites that claim to be “current” while displaying outdated information should be approached with caution.

Let the Buyer Beware

Is the website affiliated with a company, public organization or educational institution? In other words, is the website a “dot-com,” “dot-org” or “dot-edu”? Keep in mind how the institution with which the website is affiliated might influence its content. A company may be more interested in selling you something than providing reliable information. (Watch out especially for websites that carry advertising banners.) An organization may put forward its own point of view without considering opposing positions. Even an educational institution such as a university may not be as reliable as one would hope. Even if the address ends in “dot-org” or “dot-edu” and is affiliated with a respectable organization or institution, the website may in fact be the personal site of someone connected with the organization but whose views do not express the position of the body as a whole.

For More Information, Contact Whom?

Does the website contain a way of contacting the owner or finding out more information about the content? Is an email address, mailing address or telephone number listed somewhere on the site? If not, the owner’s shyness may indicate an unwillingness to stand by the information presented on the webpage.

Get Down to the Root

Is the webpage embedded within another website? If the web address is long, with several front-slashes, follow the page back to lower levels by eliminating the last slash and everything to the right of it. You may find that a page that looked objective and informative is actually housed within a broader, less reliable website.

How Is My Speling and Grammer?

Does the website contain several spelling or grammatical mistakes? If so, beware. If folks cannot get the basics right, it is unlikely that they have their facts straight either. Websites produced by non-native English-speakers, however, should be given the benefit of the doubt in this regard. Some sites might use less than stellar English (especially if they are located in foreign countries—look for national tags in the web address, such as “.tr,” “.ru,” and so forth) but still contain valuable information.

Be a Web-User, Not a Webuser

Following the guidelines above will ensure that you are a responsible user of the Internet, not a gullible “webuser” who abuses the accessibility of information on the web and fails to filter out the quality information from the junk. Moreover, as you will no doubt discover, there are still many fascinating resources outside cyberspace—such as books and people—that, though perhaps less zippy than a well-formed cyberpage, are usually far more useful and entertaining than even the most sophisticated website.