Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Info on the Internet and Library Research Class


The hardest thing about finding information on the Internet is finding information that is actually helpful and true. There are many fake websites or websites intended to give misleading information and those websites make it hard on the people who try to find information that is factual. For me personally, finding information that is factual on the Internet is slightly hard. I am good at finding medical information thanks to my library research class but I do not have other websites that I know of other than Google to find general information. The website that I get the medical information from is www.medlineplus.gov this website is very helpful because it is the National Library of medicine’s health information website, and this is something that is worth putting my trust in.  This website is somewhat like Google because it gives links to any health question that I may have, but what is different is that it is all factual therefore I don’t have to worry about getting fake information that would be of no use to me.  As one can see the Library research course was very helpful to me because it gave me a very helpful resource that I did not have. Not only did it give me a place to find real information, but it also gave me information on plagiarism, how to search the library catalog, how to verify the authority of a website, and much more information that I will be able to use in the future.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Importance of Books

“Since everything is on the Internet, I do not need books….right?”

                This statement is saying that books are not necessary since we have grown very technologically advanced. Although we have a lot of gadgets and things like the ipad and the Kindle, books are still part of our culture. They have been around for hundreds of years and are something that should be treasured. Books that are no longer in print and that have been printed in the past should be treasured. Now that technology has taken over books, the books that were once in print lose some kind of value. For example, if a painting that Vincent Van Gogh had painted was on sale, it would be worth a lot not just for the fame of the artist, but also for the things that it may represent and for its content. Having the same books typed and put into a device that allows people to read it again is like selling an exact replica of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. This is a bad thing because it is like ripping off the author or in this case the painter.  Not only do books have value, but they have something that technology does not have which is a world in which the reader can live in. Some of the books that are on the internet include things like links and images of what movies have been made out of the books. This closes off any worlds that the reader might be experiencing in their own imagination. Books are not just a way that culture is preserved, but also a way that readers can go into worlds of their own, they should be kept and shared instead of forgotten.