The Book: Rodrigues, who has long been an important scholar in the field of computers & writing, based her presentation on her new book, The Research Paper and the World Wide Web, published by Prentice Hall.
Rodrigues describes her site:
My purpose in The Research Paper and the World Wide Web is to present Web search strategies in the context of the research process. My underlying assumption is that research on any topic should include both print and online sources. The organization of the book--and of this website--reflects that purpose. Rather than beginning with Web basics, I begin with the research process, then step back to present different components of Web research.There is also an online study guide for the book.
One of the fun things about Rodrigues' presentation was the plethora of tidbits she offered about teaching students research on the Web. For example, Rodrigues reminds teachers who encourage students to use the Internet for research that other faculty may be very resistant to Internet-based research, and its important to make students aware of this.
She also offered some tips about making Internet research more managable. For example, Rodrigues shows how students can use Netscape's bookmark feature to create annotated bibliographies.
But ultimately, the main point of Rodrigues' presentation, and her book, is that learning to navigate the World Wide Web, while it does require a new set of skills, also reinforces many of the same skills used in traditional library research. So Rodrigues uses the Web as an opportunity to teach new skills, while reinforcing traditional ones.