"Information Navigation 101" by Andrea L. Foster

Students today are surrounded by forms of information technology such as: phones, computers and the internet. They are tech savvy but when it comes to the research and information retrieval required by their courses, they can fall behind. As the internet grows, so does the amount of information it can grant access to; because there is so much information, it can be overwhelming and students can get lost searching for scholarly material. Librarians and other university staff are trying to educate students on how to "find, sort, analyze, and communicate information." Many schools like the University of Texas and California State University are promoting 'information literacy' to their student body and are including it in their curriculum.

Many believe the internet is the information sourrce of the future and 'information literacy' education will contribute to the development of a more 'net savvy' community. I think teaching students how to use net resources critically and efficiently is a crucial portion of a well rounded education. The vast expanse of information available through the internet can inform and illuminate anyone who is willing to seek it out. information literacy education will give students a better understanding of net navigation, granting them access to whatever information they desire.

"The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google "

By Steven J. Bell

The article claims that students have become attached to the ease of use that google and similar search engines provide and have begun to neglect their libraries. Students want to apply the speed and ease of use of google to their research and schoolwork. Google has in a way spoiled students and they have underdeveloped their research skills so that the databases and other sources of information go unused.

I can agree that, in my experience, students have minimized their use of libraries and electronic sources. In the few papers i've written, i would use google and wikipedia to find what i wanted to know and build the paper from there. If the teacher requires scholarly sources i would look for things that pertained to my thesis. I think the methods i would use are flawed but i think that the reason myself and other students might do this is because it's quicker.

I think that because databases are within the university website make them difficult to navigate to or find for the inexperienced user and the simplicity of google makes finding information seem easier even if it is still limited. I also think the separation of all the journals in different databases makes searching take longer than if it were consolidated in one search engine. I think it is good that databases providers want learn from google so that they can make researching easier but i think that they will continue to be overshadowed by accesibility and brevity of the information available on the free web

A research paper, in my opinion, is quite a task. Writing something in your own words and trying to express a part of yourself can be difficult and when a course requires it of you in a few weeks it is easy to put it off or not devote time to it. I also think conducting research is something that should be done carefully and thoroughly, and when under a deadline, students would turn to whats easily available to them through the internet.