The Internet is no substitute for serious library research.  But the web might give you some topic ideas and access to primary sources. 

Below, Kevin Smokler, grad student in American Studies and reviewer of web sites for the American Studies Association's Crossroads Project, gives you some dos and don'ts for using the web in your classwork. 
 

DO 
 

• Still use the library. The web is not a substitute for the piles of stuff we have in our awesome campus libraries, where, in many places, you can actually get your hands on the actual manuscripts, letters etc. If you doubt, try reading your favorite book curled up in bed and then on a computer screen. Ain't nothing like the real thing. Rather, consider the web an additional source for large research projects (a term paper), and as a quick fact checker for small stuff (a homework assignment). For tips on using the library, see American Studies Library Resources.

• Start big and go small. If you're beginning cold, (i.e. I don't even know who W.E.B. Du Bois is much less am I ready to write a five-pager about him), a simple search on an engine will get you going. (Yahoo, Lycos, Altavista, and Infoseek all offer engines. Hotbot is easy to use and has broad coverage.) Almost everyone has a web page these days, so if somewhere in passing you heard about a Du Bois Institute Fellowship, do a search for it. Pages almost always have links to other ones like it. To that end...

• Give yourself plenty of time. The Web might make finding Miles Davis bootlegs quick and easy but the same cannot be said for research. At its best, the web is a very powerful compass, indicating quickly where material can be found. It does not sort it, process it or even vouch for its validity sometimes. You've got to do that stuff and that takes time. So use the web as an add-on, not a fallback.

• Verify the source of the site. Anything coming from a university is probably okay. An organization, you might want to double check with a professor. Online journals are sprouting up everywhere so again, I'd double-check the title with a professor or campus librarian. Anything contributed to by an established scholar (their books are in the library or assigned for class) is generally safe.

• Don't use political or interest group or pundit sites as historical fact. Look, any moron with a computer and basic HTML training can have a web page. It in no way guarantees the authenticity of the material contained within. So any site representing a party, guru, cult, or whatever that speaks in dogma rather than fact, in pronouncements rather than observations should be avoided. Ask yourself how well does this site back up its claims? Does it point you to primary resources (original documents) that buttress its point? Using a crank site in your research is not only bad scholarship but makes you look like a dodo bird.

• Don't think you don't have to document a web site. In fact, a web site footnote should contain not only the URL (address) but also probably a brief explanation of the site, its format, mission and the date you accessed it. Many professors still haven't renounced pen and paper and think calling up info on a computer is a) for sissies and b) of questionable value. Indicate that this material offers an additional perspective and that your use of it doesn't say "I couldn't bother going to the library."

• Don't spend hours searching for answers in the bowels of an enormous web site. Any site worth its Megahertz will have a search engine or at least a manageable list of links. These make looking for materials a relatively easy process. A badly designed site will have an interminable list of lists with vague, unhelpful headings and data placed in ridiculous places such as under the webmasters' profile of his pet armadillo. These sites are a waste and should be avoided.

• Dont' think that a site exists in a vacuum. Almost without exception, web sites draw on material that already exists in a conventional fashion. It's still out there even if it's not on the web. Web sites are helpful but always icing, never cake. Go to Card Catalog first.

-- Kevin Smokler