Further Research

All the areas of this research paper could be further researched. The data on student use of the Internet is several years old and no new studies could be found in ths area. Additionally, studies could be completed just on student use of the Internet as a research tool for their academic work. As seen in the studies mentioned above, this area of research was limited to a couple of questions, while the majority of the survey was interested in all other types of Internet use.

In addition, new studies based on faculty acceptance of Internet sources in course work should be studied. As with the student use, the studies mentioned are not current. As well, the ideas of critical thinking and instruction in critical thinking need to be included in future studies of faculty acceptance of the Internet. This appears to be the direction thought on the Internet is moving towards and new research should be completed on this topic.

This new research is particularly important since the Internet continues to grow and change. Have beliefs about accuracy and quality changed? Do faculty members still need to provide their students with guidelines for how many Internet sources they will accept? Do students still feel that accuracy isn’t really important when dealing with Internet sources? These are all areas that need further and expanded research.