web gray Starting with the Internet

Although many people start their research by looking on the Internet for information, it is not always the best place.

Most information on the Internet does not go through a review process.
Anyone can publish on the Internet without passing the content through an editor. Pages might be written by an expert on the topic, a journalist, a disgruntled consumer, or even a child.

Some information on the Internet is not free.
Many pages are free to view, but some commercial sites will charge a fee to access their information.

Information on the Internet is not organized.
Some directory services, like Yahoo, provide links to sites in subject lists. However, there are too many Web pages for any single directory service to organize and index.

Most information on the Internet is not comprehensive.
Rarely will you be able to use an Internet search engine to collect information about your topic from earlier decades and different types of sources.

Most information on the Internet is not permanent.
Some well-maintained sites are updated with very current information, but other sites may become quickly dated or disappear altogether.

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