Similar to the preceding exercise, compare the Los Angeles Times as a print medium with the news coverage on the Internet and the Web. Use the Web sites of the major international media. Discuss their experience with clicking through links to related articles. Follow trails to other sources, including primary sources. Show how the electronic version can be used as a research tool.
Newspapers can be an important source of materials to supplement scholarly research.
They also provide an accessible, user-friendly way for students to hone their research skills. Use the Los Angeles Times to teach research skills, surrounding source materials, using citation and bibliography, summarizing, inclusion and exclusion of topics and materials. Teach paraphrasing, use of quotations, and issues of plagiarism. Compare the coverage of a topic in the Los Angeles Times with its coverage in scholarly journals concerned with that topic.