What Computers Can and Cannot Do
Whether you are searching on CD-ROM or on the Internet, search tools (computer programs that locate sources of information) will ask you for a subject area or for search terms (keywords). Researching programs are user friendly, so you'll often get plenty of information quickly. However, you still need to be creative--in how you tell the computer what to look for.

Computers Can What You Must Do
scan a vast number of documents rapidly determine the best words to use for scanning the documents
organize the results indicate your priorities
respond to your specific limits articulate those limits
allow you to download files to use in your report save the files on your disk; record bibliographic information


Computers Cannot What You Must Do
find something wrapped inside something else use synonyms; suggest more general topics; be creative in phrasing yoursearch
find something that isn't there recognize that some material isn't available electronically; understand how files are stored; carefully select the databases you search
correct a misspelled word proofread zealously; use alternate spelling when appropriate; recognize that typos occur in indexes and catalogs
discriminate between different meanings--such as Mercury the car or planet and mercury the mineral add words preceded by "not" so you eliminate unwanted usage of your search terms
provide context add terms that provide context--such as "toxic mercury"

Sometimes It's Better to Consult a Person--or a Book

For most topics you should be able to do at least some of the research electronically, but you may need to be persistent. Be prepared for some dead ends--sometimes the information just isn't on the Internet; or sometimes it's there under a different term or available with a different search tool. At times you will be better off finding the printed version. For example, even when you know that a particular article was on the front page of last Sunday's New York Times, you won't find the article electronically nearly so fast as you will if you just go to the library and pick up the paper, because only selected articles of The New York Times appear online, and what's available isn't indexed by page numbers.

In addition, many of the electronic sources will provide only a title or summary; once you have that information you will still have to go to the library stacks or the periodicals room to read the book or article. Of course, you won't know which are the best books or articles until you examine them.