Widener University

When you use AltaVista, Infoseek, or another Web Search Engine to find material on your research topic, you may think that you have found more than enough information to write your paper. But if you only search the Web for information that is available for free, you may be missing important Web resources that are not free. As a Widener Student you have access to many valuable resources such as databases, electronic journals, and electronic books that are not available to the general public. Don't miss out!

For example, by using the databases that Widener University subscribes to, you will have access to a wide variety of scholarly journals and professional association publications, resources that are reliable and authoritative. By not including databases in your research process, you may be omitting some of the very best resources on your topic.

The Public Web, Available for Free Anyone Can Publish Anything	The Private Web, Available for a Fee   Provides Value Added Information
Information May Be: Unfiltered Raw Untamed	Information Has Been: Filtered Edited Selected
Information May Be Of Widely Differing Reliability Examples of Free Information:	Much Of The Information Can Be Identified As Being Reliable Examples of Fee-Based Information:
The Web sites of scholarly professional societies, whose information is very likely to be trustworthy.	The online version of publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association or the Wall Street Journal, that individuals can subscribe to.
The Web sites of Aunt Sally or Uncle Charlie, sites that may or may not have reliable, trustworthy information on them.	Databases subscribed to by Widener University such as Social Science Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, and Proquest, that lead to a vast collection of Scholarly Literature.
Web sites from advocacy organizations trying to sway your opinion, or commercial sites trying to sell you something.	Electronic Journals subscribed to by Widener University.

We would like to thank the University of Texas libraries for the inspiration for this page.

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