We need some way to instain students.

I have never found anything useful on either Yahoo Answers or Answers.com. Seriously, that's a big red "F" if I were a teacher or professor.

Wikipedia can be useful, but like ALL ENCYCLOPEDIAS, it is only a first source to determine references and where to look. It is not a paper.

Well I did learn how to tell if my son was gay.

/volcanos are really helpful

theorellior: We need some way to instain students.

Eh, they'll just frigth any attempt to instain

As someone who has a college degree and thankfully got a job juuuuuuuuuuuuuust before the recession hit (go class of 2005! Go!)

Here's your research protip.

Use wikipedia and the internet to identify where the things you read online got their source material. Then acquire those things, then cite the actual books the information originally came from.

Now granted this presumes that you have the basic ability to digest information quickly and can speed read a bit so you don't accidentally cite something that the book technically says, but really doesn't mean.

Example Partial Passage:

"I think we should burn down that orphanage!"

Full Passage:

"The only reason I would say I think we should burn down that orphanage is so we can build a better one, and teach these rapscallions the wonders of song and mathmatics and science, who will lead us one day into the glorious age of the future!"

Students don't know how to use the Internet for research. A few years back, when I was getting my second bachelor's, we had to do some online research for a term paper. I handed in a paper with my usual 15-20 cites, and the other students had about one or two. Everyone was aghast: "where did you find all that stuff?!?" On the Internet, I said, like we were supposed to.

Turned out these dorks, despite being 20 years younger than me and supposedly the "Internet generation", knew nothing about how to find info online except to put a few words into Google. As far as actually going to secondary sites, pulling up articles, going to stats sites or government sites and finding reports, these kids were as clueless as my aged grandmother. And yet THESE are the ones everyone seems to think are so "Net savvy" they can do just about anything with a computer.

I've been thinking about teaching classes on "How to actually use the Internet" when I get done with law school, for some supplemental income. Start at about middle school level, because it takes some practice.