...is a dicey proposition at best. There is a ton of information available on the Internet, but verifying and evaluating that information is a process that is much more difficult in most situations with electronic material taken from web pages than it is with print sources.

However, do not assume that this means that the Internet cannot be used effectively as a means to find information that can help you in doing the research for papers. The old proverb of Caveat emptor ("Buyer beware" in Latin) is supremely important in assessing the suitability of web information. Unless you have some hard documentation for the source you are using (and there are guidelines emerging for this sort of thing), use Web sources with a highly skeptical and critical eye.

This page is designed to guide you through several examples of sources for information on academic subjects and give you an idea (by comparison) of how and why Internet sources can be used in academic research.