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Web Research Revisited |
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In the Winter 1997 edition of Newsnotes, we discussed “Using the Internet for Research,” (Volume 34, Issue 4). How to effectively use Web search engines and ascertain the credibility of different Websites were discussed. In the past two years, the Internet has continued to evolve with great speed, and it continues to increase its presence in our personal and professional lives. Within the counseling profession, on-line therapy is developing, and the CACREP 2001 Standards have been delayed partly to adjust to newly emerging technology aspects of counselor education. Web research is also evolving markedly and rapidly. Many people initially reacted by categorizing the information available on the Internet in some manner, as if the Web was actually creating that information. Some viewed Internet information as generally inferior; some looked at it very positively. However, at this point, it seems that the Internet most closely resembles a huge, glittering library with all sorts of data and information of varying degrees of usefulness and value. The increasing amount of advertising attached to much of that information certainly adds distraction. Internet information varies from the false and unreliable, to advertising (with inherent bias), to the simple and factual, to higher level and authoritative. In terms of scholarly journals and publications, an evolution is certainly underway. The first development was the publication of recognized professional information in on-line form as a supplement or a mirror-image of regular printed material (e.g. The Chronicle of Higher Education, www.chronicle.com). Next was the development of strictly on-line refereed professional journals with standard text formats. A recent further evolution with strictly on-line publications is the creation of professional journals that incorporate technology into the text of their articles (e.g. imbedded videos or other types of multimedia). An example of this latest development is the emerging Journal of Technology in Counseling (jtc.colstate.edu) which should publish its first edition by this fall. In terms of literature reviews, those with Internet access can now do standard searches from their desktops. Search programs like ERIC and PsychInfo, which historically have been used in libraries, can now generally be accessed through the Internet by viewing the Websites of those libraries. Another recent development is an electronic database of back issues of professional academic journals known as JSTOR (www.jstor.org). This on-line repository contains complete texts of back issues of many recognized academic journals. The searching and browsing capabilities of the database are quite interesting. JSTOR was developed to help university and college libraries ease the problem of lack of shelf space for back issues. To avoid endangering publishers’ subscription bases, the database does not include the last few years of issues. For example, the most recent edition of the Journal of Higher Education available through JSTOR is from 1993. People continue to ask questions like, “What do you think of on-line journals?” The answer may well be, “Well, let’s see what develops next month!” |
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Last update:
May 3, 2001
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