When I attended McGill back in the '60's, I researched my papers using card catalogs (walls of them) and by ordering books from the stacks. It was a tedious business at best. Today you type a keyword into Google and there are your results. Now all three million of them await your examination. Which are valid? Which are commercials or advertisements? It's not easy to tell. So, if you have trouble filtering search results, how about your students?
Internet research is at the heart of the ETS' new test on information and communications technology. Bottomline: teach your students how to be critical. They need to know which sources have value and relevance to their particular assignment. Show them how to input relevant keywords and phrases which will yield the best results.
Lots more help with these sorts of things can be found at Search Engines.
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