Free Websites of Value for Humanities Students and Faculty Researchers

Introduction The information needs and behaviors of humanities researchers have been studied extensively. We know that humanities researchers consult colleagues and print material for references as well as using book reviews and personal collections. Library catalogs are used to find both primary and secondary sources. Citations in books or journals are heavily used, but scholars also consult bibliographies. Browsing is used to find related material and physical access to libraries and collections is valued highly (Boone 1986; de Triatel 2000; Broadbent 1986; Blazek and Aversa 2000: East 2005) Hacker (2005, 1) states that, "[r]esearch in the humanities generally involves: interpretation of a text or work of art within a historical an cultural context frequently bringing to bear a particular type of analysis and often relying on establishing connections, attributing significance, exploring contradictions or ambiguities," and so "primary sources, secondary sources that critically analyze primary sources, and sources that answer questions that may arise" are the objects of humanities researchers. The literature of the field tells us that humanities researchers use electronic resources such as texts and databases from established providers like DIALOG and have from the early 1990's (Hockey 1994, 676; Bates 1996, 515). Importance of the Study The Internet offers websites with tremendous amounts of information on virtually every topic, but do humanities students and faculty researchers use them for their research? Studies show that faculty members question the accuracy, reliability, and sufficiency of web resources for research. Susan Davis Herring surveyed 1,129 full-time faculty at 30 post-secondary institutions in Alabama. She found that faculty in the sciences were more positive about the accuracy and format of the web than faculty in the social science or in language and literature. Generally, those faculty thought the information on the Internet is "without a recognized selection process, carried out by accepted and reputable organizations or publishers." Herring found that "faculty teaching in the language and literature fields tend to be the least satisfied with the Web overall, and specifically, were less satisfied with its content and accuracy" (Herring 2001, 216). Undergraduate students, on the other hand, report that the web provides them with information that they use to complete assignments. In 2001, Deborah Grimes and Carl Boening studied students enrolled in an English composition course and found that many students were using unevaluated Internet sites "because of the ease in locating and printing out the results and because of a perceived abundance of information compared to books and periodicals" (Grimes and Boening 2001, 20-22). Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb studied undergraduate students in a large metropolitan university and found that 50.8% of the undergraduate respondents in humanities (154 students responded to the survey) reported that they used online sources at least 75% of the time for their research papers. Forty-seven percent of undergraduate students across disciplines reported that they consulted online sources first 90% or more of the time. Dilevko and Gottlieb defined online sources as "electronic online resources of any kind" (Dilevko and Gottlieb 2001, 384-385). Increasingly, students are using online sources, including the web, for their assignments, The ideal would be for them to use websites that have value in the eyes of faculty in the humanities. Rating systems for websites have emerged to provide a mechanism that would convey reliability. For example, the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," which is given for reliable merchandise, was extended to websites. Websites displaying the "Good Housekeeping Website Certification" have "met the Good Housekeeping Institute's Standards for security, privacy and product integrity. The Web Certification is not a warranty; it is a verification that the website is trustworthy and safe for customers. …