4 Ways You Can Make Your Online Research Easier
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Whether you are an academic student, freelance writer, blogger or article writer, when writing a piece, you most likely use the internet as your primary source of information. This is because the internet has a wealth of information to support and sustain any topic in virtually any discipline. However, its vast resource makes the internet as confusing as it is helpful. If you are not keen, you can waste plenty of time on the internet researching for your paper only to end up with useless information especially if you are an academic writer. Here are some of the tips that will make researching on the net more efficient:
1. Separate fact from fiction Sad to say, the internet is full of fiction. You should not always believe what you see on the internet especially if you are developing an academic paper. You must learn to separate fact from fiction and an excellent way to do that is to use only credible sites. Education sites that end in .edu and government sites that end in .gov are usually credible sources of information. You can also use established news sites but aim to use the original source. For instance if the newspaper mentions the source, go directly to the source.
2. Be a smart searcher to obtain credible information, use credible search engines such as Google and Bing to look for information. Such search engines have excellent features that help you find what you are looking for but you can also use specific search techniques to narrow down the results to what you need. Learn about such things as Boolean searches to help you in your search. Learn to decode the best sites for exactly what you need. Understand how search engines work. The top results are not necessarily the best results.
3. Stay focused to be able to be a good researcher; you need to be focused during your research. When you are ready to go to search engines or specific websites, eliminate all the possible distractions. Log off from your email and social networking sites and even switch off your phone until the research is complete. It is so easy to wander far from your topic when you are on the net because of many links and pop ups. Avoid following every link you see even if it might relate to your topic. Concentrate on finding only the required sources.
4. Reference your work properly citing online resources uses a different format from citing print sources. You have to use the referencing style required by the assigning professor on that particular paper. It is so easy to forget citing your work when using online resources to develop your paper. You must also remember that even though you are citing the work, you have to put the information in your own words rather than simply copy pasting it to your word document. You must also ensure that you are citing the original source not the site when you found the information. You can use online tools to help you with the referencing.
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Category: Education, Technology
