What I use for research varies depending on my purpose and audience. Typically for academic research I will use the online U of M databases or actually go to the library and read the journals and books. For most research, I will use books, since most information is simply not on the Internet, and I do not typically trust its accuracy. I usually will use academic search premier, lexis-nexis, OED online, ERIC , etc. If I need current event news I would consult the New York Times or Star Tribune. I mostly use the Internet for sports news and getting quick facts, usually wikipedia does a good enough job.
Validity is a concern of mine on the Internet--I simply will distrust all of it unless I know where it is published and who published it. I prefer to read things from their primary documents and make my own opinion or read an author's interpretation. What I enjoy most is reading about history, in which case I love reading how an author interprets events, how they synthesize, and what they choose to bring together. I typically will listen to MPR or search their website to begin the bibliography trail and then continue as long as my interest takes me . I enjoy searching think tank cites and Congressional commissions--CATO, Heritage, Heartland, RAND, etc. I guess that I typically only use the Internet for entertainment or listening to radio online or watching shows and movies--I can't say that I have ever taken the Internet seriously for any sort of research.
My students are mostly aware of wikipedia and general searching, but what they don't know are the government and think tanks and commercial websites like Amazon that can be helpful in doing research. MostlyProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age
A Weird Ethnography
10 years ago
2 comments:
Brandon,
I agree that consulting hard copy resources is generally the most effective way of research. At least, it has been in my experience. I had no idea what you mean at the end of the blog posting when you write, "MostlyProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age". ??? Anyway, that must lie in the realm of information that I don't know that I don't know. I'll have to look into this idea of using think tanks as a means of research. I've unfairly, or ignorantly, disregarded these resources. Thanks for the tip.
the blog seems to be having some trouble, as evidenced by the non-sense code at the end of the post--oh well
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