Internet research can be both a rewarding and an embarrasing proposition. For all of the useful information that can be found on the 'Net, there is probably one hundred times as much stuff that can and should never see the light of day as part of your factual justification for academic papers.
Please note my emphasis in the immediately preceeding paragraph. I do not mean to say that the Internet is without value as a source of information. What I want you to understand, and what your assignment over the weekend should demonstrate to you, is that Internet sources are not currently very reliable as sites for information on which you can base an academic paper.
First, let's look at (and print out) the citation guidelines for electronic material, as stated in The Allyn and Bacon Handbook (3rd edition) on pages 645-48.
As you conduct research for any project, you should always be aware of any possible problems with information that you have collected for use as support to your own ideas. Such problems can include any of the following:
The Internet is no more reliable than television as a source for information on which you can uncritically rely. If you wouldn't cite Home Improvement as a model for typical American family interaction in the late 1990s, then there's no reason you should automatically cite any information you get on the Web as "fact" or "true" without seriously considering why you believe it to be so.
Your assignment for the weekend is to look at the Websites linked to at the bottom of this page and determine how reliable the information contained in those pages is for use in an academic paper. You should present your findings in the form of an annotated bibliography, which essentially consists of a standard "Works Cited" page but with the addition of an explanatory paragraph or two under each entry that discusses the source cited in greater detail. For example:
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick, or, The Whale. New York: Viking Press, 1996.
Melville's most famous novel tells the story of Ishmael, a young man from Nantucket who sets out on a lengthy voyage aboard a whaling ship with an insane captain named Ahab in search of a giant white whale named Moby-Dick. etc...
For the purposes of this paper, you should write two substantial (i.e., not "Cool site" or "Good information. Real reliable") paragraphs for each site, one which lists the possibly useful aspects of the site and one which lists the possible problems with the information. Note: ALL SOURCES will have some of both categories to write about, so take some time and closely evaluate the sites.
You should especially focus on how--if at all--the site establishes its authority as a reliable source. Ask yourself what basis are you given to believe the information presented to you. If you cannot do this to a satisfactory degree, you probably shouldn't use the information without heavily acknowledging its possible problems (or better, yet, finding a better source that doesn't have so many problems)
Anyway, here are the sites...happy hunting. The assignment is due IN CLASS on Monday, November 9. Unless you have walking pneumonia, I will not accept any late papers for this assignment, as we simply don't have time to dawdle on this final unit.