The internet as a research tool: methods, ethics, and applications

¶ … Seeing the vast and wide array of information that people can obtain from the World Wide Web, it can be analyzed that the value of the Internet is becoming indispensable in many types of need. Researching on the web provides state-of-the-art and advanced support to conduct diverse kinds of researches. Thanks to the technology of the World Wide Web that has become a popular research tool that is essential in today's many research activities. According to Terry King (Demery, 1997), president of an accounting firm, on his analysis of conducting research on the web,

"If you haven't looked at the Net, you haven't fully done your research job,"

"It's prudent to go out on the Net to cross-check your research, to make sure there's not something out there you missed."

Because of the versatility of the Web in terms of the purposes it serves to users, the services that the Internet provides to different industries, institutions, and types of professions for conducting researches can never be overlooked these days. Technically, the Web is replacing much need to visit libraries to be able to conduct information investigation and studies, one convenience that people are happy about researching in the Internet. Moreover, to students, the Web has become a very useful source of information that even from home they can already do their research activities with quite unlimited amount of virtual information.

Researching on the Web can be done in different methods. As indicated by Paul Demery, in his article Internet: Epanding the Boundaries of Research, the following are some of tools that facilitate the need of finding the right information on the Web.

Use efficient search engines. There are a number of search engines on the Internet that offer useful and user-friendly methods in searching information (i.e. different rules in use user-given keywords such as searching for similar words). Such search engines include Google, Yahoo, and Lycos among many others. Provision of previews of sites also facilitates the researcher's need of finding the right information.

Use of special software search engines. Aside from the publicly available search engines, there are available softwares in the market that offer more advanced method of searching in the World Wide Web.

Use of online libraries that provide databases of articles and previously conducted researches and studies, as well as suggested links to different information on diverse subjects of study.

Analysis on Ethical Issues When Conducting Research on the Web

As far as the current events regarding the use of information on the Web, there are still issues about conducting researches on the Web. Such issues mostly involve the characteristic of information, which is being owned and copyrighted. Hence, it is important that users of information in the World Wide Web should observe different etiquettes in its use.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the most common issue regarding conducting a research on the Web. It is always the rule of thumb that information from the Internet must not be directly copied without quoting it and giving the real author a citation credit. There are a number of strategies, which are similarly available in the Internet, which can provide a researcher with ways to prevent plagiarism.

The Guidelines that Can Facilitate Research on the Internet

The flexibility of the Internet to provide diverse information for a particular subject may be confusing to a researcher. For instance, a search of one keyword in a search engine may return different sites that contain related and not so related information. If a researcher will try to use all the information returned by a search engine, chances are he will lose focus on what his research really intends to bring to his readers. Analyzing such problem, it is important that users follow several procedures to facilitate their research task. An online source suggests the following as some of the guidelines that can help a researcher conduct his research on the Internet in the most efficient manner.

Choosing a topic.

Choose a topic that interests you. It is important that before searching for information, a researcher must have already identified the main topic that he will discuss in his paper.

Background reading.

After selecting a topic, the researcher must have a clear background on the subject of his paper. This will help him make a structure of his research, thus helping him use the right keywords when using a search engine.

Narrow your topic to acceptable limits to keep it simple yet comprehensible..

One topic can definitely lead to a large tree of related topics. When conducting a research on the Internet, do not be influenced by the great number of information that the Internet provides, one after the other, for a particular subject. Instead, make a list of the most related topics of the research subject to prevent confusion.