Wikipedia is fast food for your mind

A loaded double cheeseburger with bacon and a pile of french fries can be a delicious and filling meal with some nutritional value. However, it's also loaded with fat, sodium, calories, and lots of chemicals. A fast food meal is fine if it's an occasional guilty pleasure but it's not something to eat everyday if your aim is a healthy body. Wikipedia is like a fast food chain of the Internet - a place for quick, easy, and conveniently packaged information. But this information often comes with a lot of junk mixed in like speculation, incorrect facts, libelous statements, and other misinformation. Is Wikipedia the kind of resource you want to be risking your grade, or your college education, on?

So where do you go? Well, your library has over eighty databases which contain credible, authoritative information published by reputable publishers and vendors. Our databases contain information that you cannot readily access on the Internet. Free is not necessarily better when it comes to your education.

One of the databases to turn to when you're first starting your research is the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). This database gives you access to 157 encyclopedias and almanacs. These are specialized encyclopedias with lengthy articles covering a wide range of disciplines and topics written by established authors and academics in their fields.

Let's say your topic is on an issue dealing with the environment. The following are GVRL titles you can choose from:

• Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy , 2009
• Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change , 2008
• Climate Change: In Context , 2008
• Environmental Encyclopedia , 2003
• Environmental Science: In Context , 2009
• Managing Biodiversity in Agricultural Ecosystems , 2007
• UXL Encyclopedia of Water Science , 2005
• Water: Science and Issues , 2003

You can search within a specific title or search the entire collection of 157 titles at the same time. Articles can be downloaded, printed, or e-mailed as a PDF file. There are features which allow you to download an audio MP3 file or even translate the entire written article into your choice of 10 languages. GVRL has titles covering many other subject areas.

Quit your junk info habit today. Your library's databases are the best source for credible, authoritative information - nutrition for your mind! Log on to Pipeline today and click the Libraries tab to get started.