We live in a world of mounds of information. I've seen the statistic that each person in the US consumes the equivalent of all the information stored on every hard drive in the state of Minnesota each year. I (am I am sure you) have access to a full-text database making thousands of journals available at a few mouse clicks.
Then I started reading research papers turned in by students. Well, I started reading those in which the students had listed their references. (Now, mind you this was a nine-week project undertaken in collaboration with an English teacher.) Most of the references came from web sites.
Now, I expect this is no surprise to anyone... in reality it was no surprise to me. It does support the conclusion that has been reached by many, however, that we are in information overload in the 20th century. I resolve, however, to:
1) Give my students direct instruction in how to use our full text databases. Including an overview of the information landscape (i.e. when is it OK to use the web and when do we use edited resources). I am going to do this by helping students find the references listed on Wikipedia pages using our full-text database.
2) Help my students create annotated bibliographies. This will give them chances to find interesting articles, read authentic sources, and practice referencing.
3) Point my students to resources I want them to read. This will give them practice navigating the full-text database.
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