How Not to Look for References

I am not a techie-person. That perhaps is an understatement considering that it took me almost an hour and several text messages just to enter this blogsite. Facebook, I think, is the farthest I've gone so far in this affair with technology. So join me as I recount my adventures and misadventures in this world of information technology.

First Entry: How Not to Look for References

I have been the research assistant of a professor for almost three years now and part of the job description is to help my professor draft essays and academic papers intended for both local and national publication. One of my first major assignments was to help my boss draft a paper on Religious Fundamentalism- which is, by the way, a topic which I know nothing about.
So the lazy part of me did what most of the students at this age would do- consult a trusted website called GOOGLE.COM. Technology and the internet are magnificent. I just had to type general concepts like "fundamentalism," "roman catholic" or "women's rights," press enter and voila! Hello hundreds of articles, essays, journals, blogs, ranting and whatnots from all the websites you can think of, including my personal favorite, Wikipedia. After that, doing the paper was a breeze.

My boss was abroad at that time so I just emailed my draft. When she returned, she was fuming mad. Okay, maybe just a little bit dissapointed. After a lecture on proper researching, referencing and on having some initiative to go to the library and actually look for a book, my boss told me that the paper was supposed to be published abroad. Indeed, who would take seriously an academic paper with Wikipedia cited all over as the primary source? Did I even bother to check the entries and verify their accuracy? To this day, I really don't know if it's stupidity or plain laziness that got into me during that time.

Luckily, I was not fired. My boss merely asked me to re-do the paper. But I learned my lesson.

Indeed, the internet is a big help to everyone. Technology has helped make our work simpler, easier and faster to do. But did that necessarily translate to better work? Now, that is a point of contention. With the emergence of the internet, one can gather all the information one needs with just one click. But, are the facts reflected in those sources actually correct? Are the arguments presented in those sources supported by adequate and intelligent reasoning? In fact, it is of common knowledge that my favorite Wikipedia, being a mere collection of articles posted and authored by different persons not necessarily experts, is not even reliable, to say the least. The internet may have lessened our work, but the burden to think, digest and process the information still remain with us. In the end, like any other reference material, one must never take internet information hook, line and sinker.

:)