If you're interested in gray wolves--or any other wild animal species, you can learn as much as you want to know without ever leaving home. You can search online, of course, for any and all websites that mention the gray wolf. You can visit your local or school library, and locate books that describe wolf behavior in great detail. You can seek out video documentaries that show wolves in action. Today, there is no shortage of information available about almost any subject that happens to make you curious.
Not all information is created equal, however. Especially if you use the Internet to research a topic, you may find as many inaccurate or poorly developed sources as good ones. After all, anyone can publish anything online, and fairly easily. Most websites and applications that let users post stories don't check to make sure that those articles are factual and well-researched.
One way to make sure that you're getting the most accurate information available online is to consider the source in this way: Figure out who maintains the website, and decide if that organization is trustworthy. For instance, would you be more likely to find accurate, well-researched information about wolves on a website maintained by a government research facility or on a website used by individuals to write blog posts about subjects they find interesting?
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (www.fws.gov) |
If you would trust facts posted by a government research facility over blogger.com, you understand the nature of the Internet better than many people, old and young. A government research facility run by scientists has a reputation that it must uphold in order to be taken seriously and continue to receive funding. In other words, the writers' livelihoods and careers depend upon providing accurate information. |
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Blogger (www.blogger.com) |
If you would immediately trust facts found in an article posted to a free blogging website, you have much more to learn about how the Internet works. Blog-hosting companies allow anyone to create a website for the purpose of sharing their ideas, that there are no methods in place for ensuring that the content posted to the blogs is accurate or based on any kind of evidence. That doesn't mean you should never believe what you read on a blog--just that you should check to make sure the content comes from a reliable source. |
