UWM

To Use Or Not to Use?

Thinking

My professor says I can't use Web sources for my paper.

Ask your professor to clarify this because there are basically "two Webs." There is the public Web that search engines find, and there's the "invisible Web." The "invisible Web" includes the online databases which the UWM Libraries subscribe to that are available only to the UWM community.

An article you find using an online article database such as Historical Abstracts may also exist in a journal in print. It's just delivered via the Web by the library to facilitate research.

Green light

Go with the strengths of the public Web
• to obtain information on colleges, museums, non-profit organizations, or companies
• for very current information such as news, sports scores, weather, stock quotes
• to research a well-known event or individual
• to use online job postings, shopping, auctions, or travel services
• for opinions on a topic

Red light

Stop and think! There are better places to look than the public Web
• to find articles in scholarly journals
to find articles published in popular magazines
to search databases that index articles in many academic disciplines
to find books on your topic
to locate the full text of articles or books that are copyrighted

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