How is conducting research online different from conducting research in a traditional library?

Conducting research online is a lot riskier; you need to be more aware of a few things in this case than when you are in a library, which is basically controlled and categorized a lot better: - Recognize legitimate resources versus fakers. - The difference between subjective information and objective information. For academic research, URLs ending in .edu and .gov are generally more trustworthy. Also be aware of user-generated content; while everyone is an expert on something, sometimes the right people aren't always the ones giving the information.

You also need to know that many legitimate online sources are "pay to use", either requiring a membership or payment per article. Make sure you check with your school if you're a student, many have online subcriptions to Excellent source sites.