Introduction
Internet is the widest researching forum that we have in the current world; millions of people can access the internet by sitting at their homes and simply typing in what they want on the World Wide Web. Millions of people have contributed their work, literature, writing and what not on the internet for people around the globe who want to make use of this information. Internet has become one of the largest knowledge seeking tools in any field or area of human life, as the information available on the internet has no barriers. The internet services have been divided into many subcategories – gigantic information links, email, file sharing, interest group membership, interactive association, multimedia resources etc. The internet research tools have also been divided into various different categories, such as, the World Wide Web, search engines, online databases, virtual libraries, periodicals, mailing lists, groups and blogs. Each kind of research engine has its advantages and disadvantages; the use of each should be made by keeping in mind the type of information and research that needs to be conducted.
Main body
The main target is to write a detailed essay and discussing the current relevance of Philip Zimbardo’s research on prison students for understanding social influence. Normally, a student tends to go to basic search engines like Google and read all the material available regarding this topic. Research can become much easier and faster if students organize their research tools and work in a systematic manner. One thing that needs to be understood is that, not every type of research tool is relevant for every topic; no wonder every research tool has good enough material based on various topics, but there are certain topics that fit better with particular research tools.
When one selects his/her online source for research, there are several factors that need to be kept in mind such as the audience that you will be presenting your research to and their needs; whether the source will save you time and give you opportunities to learn, analyze and infer the meaning and aspects of theories yourself of not; the quality, authenticity, relevance and accuracy of the information available from the source; whether the source meets the international standards and is up to mark, and most importantly organized, or not; and lastly the cost of utilizing the source.
The research tools that are best suited for the Zimbardo’s case on prison students are online libraries and databases and to some extent e-books. A database is an organized online source which has groups of data in a fixed and systematic format. Although, the data normally has a central focus, these databases have proper researches, applied and scientific both, with a vast pool of topics. The benefit of using these databases is that they have proper directories defined subject wise; this makes search extremely easy and narrowed down. A few of the famous online databases are EBSCO Host, Education Network Australia, EdNA Online, and even SCIS School Cataloguing Information Service. Various universities, libraries, companies, organizations and even random volunteers have worked very hard for the creation of these databases to help out all people in need for research. It is an extremely difficult task to compile all the material and then posting it online after taking permission and authentication. They have created these databases subject by subject for convenience while researching, but these major topics overlap with other directories available on the internet. However, keeping in mind the authenticity, the recentness and the sponsorship of the article, the reader has to decide which database to go for.
The main feature of a database is actually what its advantages are – one would choose to work with a database because of its large choice of topic and its in-depth availability of material. Most importantly, what makes databases the most attractive are its organization subject wise which makes the researchers work more focused and targeted. Databases are sources which do not have random articles written by freelance writers, or blogs or comments; it has properly researched articles by people qualified in their field when a person chooses to work with the World Wide Web, narrowly, the search engines such as Google or Yahoo search, they will come across all the articles that have been posted on the internet despite its authentication and reliability checked. It is then up to the researcher to judge what to select and what not to select. When these sources are used to cite work in professional essays, they are not considered reliable and the credibility of the writer and student declines (Cohen, 2008). On the other hand, when sources of databases are used, it is easily judged that the material used in the essay has been extracted from some research article which was written by a scholarly person.
When sources such as blogs, groups, mailing lists are used to write a university level essay, they can prove to be helpful in just building up upon one’s arguments and stance. However, the information gathered using these two sources are merely opinions of different people and nothing else. The purpose of essays such as the Philip Zimbardo’s is to read the case, understand it, analyze it and then give one’s own view about it and what they feel should have been the result. By using other’s opinions as a base of one’s essay, he/she eliminates the essence of the essay.
There is still an inclination in people to go for search engines because they are very easily accessible. It is true to some extent that databases are not always accessible; they either need subscription or they need a membership through your respective company or university. Not everybody can afford subscribing to these databases and virtual libraries, so they decide to go without it altogether. Also, not everyone is a university student and has an easy access to these databases, thus, becoming a hindrance. However, there are millions of online journals are available freely through various open-to-all databases, which have journals of all fields with uncountable articles; it is best for those who want to do a detailed study of a certain topic. At the same time, some online journals are such that have been written very academically and professionally; thus, at a student level, it is difficult to grasp this material as the researchers put forward various complex and complicated arguments.
A better option would be to go for e-books; these are basically published books which are posted on the internet; these books are not part of the database, in fact are posted on various websites that are often created by the author himself to promote his book worldwide even to those who cannot afford to buy it or have easy access to it. These books are reliable and they are a page-by-page copy of the original book; however, it needs to be made sure of that the sources that are used are somewhat reliable. For example, Google book search has become extremely popular day by day; earlier, Amazon only sell books online through cyber shopping, but now, with the help of its ‘search inside the book’ option, researchers can easily get hold of the full text of the book without paying a penny for it.
Conclusion
Journals and E-books are the best option for discussing the current relevance of Philip Zimbardo’s research on prison students for understanding social influence, because the prison student ideology is a proper research that was conduced by Philip Zimbardo; thus, any other article posted by an amateur writer on the web would not do. The students first need to study the true case in depth, then examine and analyze it using their own intellect to figure out the social influence it has caused. This clearly shows that they do not need to study others’ stances over it or to read people’s discussion – simply, books, databases, journals and ‘scholarly’ articles need to be referred to for the hard core case.
Works Cited
Philip G. Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding how Good People Turn Evil, Published by Random House, ISBN 1400064112.
Allan J. Kimmel, Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research: Basic and Applied Perspectives, Published by Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1405134399.
Jennifer Patros, Andrea Abrahamson, Samantha MacIntosh, Shannon Potter, Underlying Effects of Authority: Past to Present, Michigan State University, (N.D). Web.
The Monthly interview: Philip Zimbardo.(Interview), Washington Monthly, GOLIATH – business knowledge on demand, (2007).