To Use Or Not to Use?

My professor says "I can't use Internet sources for my paper."

Ask your professor to clarify this, because there are basically "two Internets." There is the public Internet that search engines find, and there's the private or "invisible Internet," such as Web sources the library buys that only the ISU community can use.

An article you find using an online article index such as Historical Abstracts also exists in a journal in print. It's just delivered via the Internet by the library to facilitate research.

Go with the strengths of the public Internet
• to obtain information on colleges, museums, non-profit organizations, or companies
• for very current information such as news, sports scores, weather, stock quotes
• to research a well-known event or individual
• to use online job postings, shopping, auctions, or travel services
• for opinions on a topic

Stop and think! There are better places to look than the public Internet
• to find articles in scholarly journals
• to find articles published in popular magazines and newspapers
• to search databases that index articles in many academic disciplines
• to find books on your topic
• to locate the full text of articles or books that are copyrighted