Sometimes, the library is better than the internet

Every time my children have a research project for school, I'm struck by the incredible flaws of doing research on the internet.As an adult, I have a critical eye and can pretty easily suss out what sites are valid to get facts about the Iroquois or the Mount Pelee eruption. It's a university science department, or a museum or another reputable source and not just someone's Weebly page they put together as their own research project.For my sons, it's not as simple as that. I don't hover over them as they're doing work. They need to do the work on their own so they actually learn. But as my younger son today had to find out things about the volcanic Mount Pelee, I found myself questioning him on what sites he was looking at and actually sitting down and doing some Google searches myself to help him find reputable sites.They're not allowed to use Wikipedia as a source, which I get, but I've taught him how to use it to find reputable sources. But often the sources aren't online, but are paper sources that we'd, well, have to go to the library to look up.I know this sounds horribly, "Back in the day, when I was a child things were so much better", but the thing is, I'd go to the library and knew all the books there had been vetted and were reputable sources. Sure, some were better than others, but I knew as long as I used library books, I'd be OK.I still had to find the books and read through them to find the information I needed. And it's easier, sure, to use the computer's search function on a page to find the exact details you're looking for than to have to skim through a book or hope what you're looking for is in the book's index. But learning proper research skills is vital. I can't help but think that some of the mess we're in with "fake news" and the like is due to a failure to educate our children on how to properly vet a website for accuracy.Just because a website shows up in the first page of Google for your search terms doesn't mean it's the most reputable. It just means they were good at SEO. Who goes further than the first page, though?So, every research project my son has, I sit by him and help him understand why different sites are better than others for the information. I show him different ways of searching for information and explain why I click on one site rather than another. We often start off with Wikipedia, and he understands how without using Wikipedia as the source of the information, he can use it as a source of sources.On the flip side, my children now have access to academic research they never would have been able to find in their hometown library back when I was a kid. I just have to teach them how to separate the wheat from the chaff.Photo by Jamie Taylor via Unsplash.