Writers Internet Research Resources

A generation that can't remember life without PCs, the World Wide Web, and/or Wikipedia may never know the joy of browsing through a real life encyclopedia. The venerable Encyclopedia Britannica (full or Junior set) was once considered the last word in reference material. For some of us, it was the first or only resource we used. At the library. Teachers accepted its citations without question. I'm sure plagiarism was rampant then, too. Now students are taught to use the Internet. Thanks to projects digitizing the contents of great libraries and journals making issues available online, soon electronic research will be king. For some, it is already, with their first and last stop the Wikipedia. It was probably the first attempt to offer knowledge on the web, but unfortunately many users don't realize it is a very volunteer effort and quite vulnerable to manipulation. Even the managers have had to publish a disclaimer, but I wonder how many people even see it or read it. The general disclaimer takes pains to point out twice, "Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here" before the ubiquitous C.Y.A. statements.