Resource of the Week #139: A Resource for Developing Internet Research Skills

Hello again. This week I’m featuring a resource called Virtual Training Suite. This resource contains tutorials (lessons) on using Internet materials in academic work.

This resource includes

• a tutorial, titled “Internet Detective”, that provides guidance on evaluating online content and using it suitably
• tutorials on using the Internet to obtain audio resources, video resources, still images, and archival materials
• tutorials on Internet searching in each of 60 subject areas, from aeronautical engineering to women’s studies

The tutorials are openly accessible. According to the developers, each one takes about an hour to complete. Exercises and quizzes are included.

These tutorials can help in finding good Internet content—and in avoiding Internet content that isn’t credible. They also can aid in avoiding problems such as plagiarism and copyright infringement.

The tutorials are by lecturers and librarians from universities in the United Kingdom. Although the tutorials were developed for students, they also can aid others of us. For example, the tutorial on Internet searching in medicine lists some resources new to me.

I encourage you to look at this resource. Many thanks to Peter Burnett at INASP for mentioning it.

Until the next post—

Barbara