How to make your internet research effective? Firstly, you should formulate the main idea and draft your outline to know what things you are looking for. List down all the resources that you will need to support your writing and findings.
With the vast information on the web, it is difficult to choose the best reference. Choosing the resources to obtain depends on some considerations. You cannot rely much on what the research results feed to you. If you want to look for creditable info, you should have a skeptical mindset and observing skills to identify which gives a relevant and genuine reference. Here are some key points to find out the best sources.
1. Verify the resources and look for proof
Do you need some paper help with essays? In doing research, you must take note of the important details of the web article. Consider researching at least five contents to verify if the information is correct and accurate. If the teacher requires you a bibliography, you may use mobile apps or internet sites wherein you can extract the MLA, APA, or Chicago citation of the article.
How are you going to know if the article looks legit? First, you should check the website itself if it is secured. Some sites have low securities in which most contents are just probably copy-paste. Hence, you cannot be able to determine the original author.
Second, you need to check if it contains the basic citations such as web and article title, author, URL, date published. You can use the Easybib, BibMe, Citation Machine, Citavi, or Citefast to check the citations quickly.
2. Use scholarly or academic database
You can search for any topic and ideas via Google in just a snap. You may choose any of the results filtered and ranked on the first page. Generally, some researchers relied on the first rank of the search engine because the browser finds it the most relevant. However, this is not always the case when you do research.
On the 20th of November 2004, Google launched its search engine that particularly involves scholarly articles and academic databases. It has a separate platform and it displays articles and case law contents. It works as a virtual library wherein anyone can freely access the Google Scholar page.
You can use this search engine to find legit and legal information for your essay. It is also a good academic source for term papers, thesis, feasibility studies, research paper, and more.
3. Stick to three to five online materials
Do you believe in the saying – too many cooks may spoil the broth? Too much information is not always practical. You need to get relevant and substantial content only. Do not include any unnecessary data that may contradict with the main idea or drafted outline.
Reduce online materials up to three to five resources. In this way, the information will not mix up and you may organize the flow of the essay.
4. Visit reliable websites for technical information
Some websites provide more reasonable info than scholarly and academic articles. You can check the government and news contents. Either read the blogs and news to get some details for your essay. Another option is to watch the news live via streaming or YouTube channels.
You may also refer to social media accounts to check any latest trends or view historical facts about some events. Of course, do not forget to obtain citation if your teacher requires you.
5. Save the information
Let’s say, you have read the relevant information, but you forgot where you found it. Well, make it a habit to save the resources via a bookmark. In this way, you can always go back and refer to the website. You may also print out the page to save the info. Another option is to keep the resources in one place such as emails or sticky notes for easy viewing.
If the research involves a clip or video, make sure to either save the URL or download it on your device. To organize everything in place, you should keep a folder on your desktop or store them in a cloud-based app.
Does your research become effective?
Internet research is vital in providing genuine information to readers. As a writer, you should know if your essay purports to represent accurate and correct content. To make it legit and reasonable, you must cite examples, procedures, and citations. In this way, you can convince the readers with facts.
