"If it's on the Internet, it must be true!"
If you're one of those sponge-y people that remembers facts from every article or study you read, you've probably heard this line from someone mocking you and your Internet research. I get this all of the time.
Is there a ton of BS on the Internet? Totally. But is there also a ton of valuable and credible resources on the Internet that are great learning tools? Definitely.
When people negate the research you've done just because you used a search engine to find it, it bewilders me. I'm sorry, but this is 2016. Am I supposed to only use a card catalog? I'm confused.
For those who may be newbies to using the world wide web for researching purposes and not just scrolling through memes all day, or if you're constantly having to justify your knowledge that you learned "on Google," here is a brief list of some of the many valuable resources on the Internet that make your research totally valid.
1. Medical Journals
People love to tear apart "Facebook doctors," as they like to mockingly call them. Y'know, people who offer medical advice via Facebook or share facts they've learned via social media.
I'm not totally sure why this is laughable, though, because medical journal sites (such as PubMed) are widely accessible through the Internet, and Facebook is how I've come across many of them. I've learned so much about health through Facebook health groups and following certain pages that share medical information. The Internet is how many people learn nowadays. Online college courses, anyone? Are those any less educational or legitimate? You can earn entire degrees online, for goodness sake.
I'm sure there's people who like to talk sh*t about that, too, though.
2. Scholarly Journals
Google scholar, your school's online library database, etc. There are plenty of ways to find scholarly articles, essays (and even entire books!) on the Internet. I've written entire college papers with sources I found through the Internet. Why? Because almost everything you could possibly need is on the Internet these days.
Besides conducting your own primary research or interviews, you can find electronic copies of just about anything you could need through the Internet. In journalism, we are often told to first conduct our own research via Internet searches before going to interviews, basically so you don't look stupid. And it usually does the trick.
3. News Publications
Yeah, basically every relevant news publication has a website these days, as well as social media. Newspapers and magazines can provide tons of information regarding current events, new studies being performed, new laws and new findings. Articles are not automatically "not research" just because you found the article through an app on your Smartphone. It doesn't work that way.
4. Blogs
No, not just any blogs, but plenty of blogs are legitimate and valid for researching purposes. Doctors have blogs, too. News publications have blogs. Even "mommy blogs" can be credible. There are plenty that cite their findings and where they get their information, and guess what, many of their sources are directly from news publications or medical journals. Blogs are not automatically credible, but they are not automatically invalid for research purposes either.
Discretion and prudence are necessary when researching using the Internet, but aren't discretion and prudence necessary for any research conducted?
If it's on the Internet, it could very well be true, and there's no reason to knock those who simply want to learn more and use the Internet as a means to do so.
