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In this photojournalism article, Lisa talks about the differences between modern-day research and older research.
How book Research Is Different From Today's media Research
How book Research Is Different From Today's media Research
By: Lisa Marie
By: Lisa Marie
For many years, society has used books as research for certain topics. There was no way to research besides looking at books and newspapers to find the answers to problems. Now, citizens have many online sites to help them with research. There are now answers to questions on sources ranging from AI to Wikipedia. It is hard to believe facts found in unreliable sources. Believing information from textbooks is also difficult when the research is outdated or the author is biased. Just like in the media, some sources are full of propaganda.
Picture Of Daily Courier by Lisa Marie
Looking at books and making sure the information is right can be harder than in today's online research. The Cayuga Community College Library website goes into depth about the best way to research from books. The site suggests “Look[ing] at the parts of a book when deciding how it might be used in your research.” The library resources adds that researchers should also look at the bibliography, a list of materials that leads to other sources. Additional research can also help.
Grants Pass High School Library (Non-Fiction) by Lisa Marie
Book research has been known to be a reliable practice that some older generations have relied upon. Looking at sources in the back of the books was once practically the only way to find more information, due to little to no internet access. Taking notes was one way to keep track of the information. Depending on the generation, people were not necessarily able to search up the information and go deep into their investigative topic like people can today.
Although books have helped research, AI has also played a significant part in the new generation of research. In an article by the American Psychology Association, author Charlotte Huff talks about how “AI can be a useful tool for some routine tasks… but researchers must vet AI output and retain control over their scholarship because of the technology’s potential for bias and fabrication.” This can cause concern and stress about correct sources.
AI research can never be truly right. Ben Shaw, who wrote on the University of Maryland Library page, stated that “Currently, if you ask an AI to cite its sources, the results it gives you are very unlikely to be where it is actually pulling this information. In fact, neither the AI nor its programmers can truly say where in its enormous training dataset the information comes from.” He says that “As of summer 2023”, AI often only gives certain information and does not state its origin. AI can be “just an assortment of webpages and articles that are roughly related to the topic of the prompt.”
Computures in Grants Pass High School Libary by Lisa Marie
Books are written with feeling and brain power. Today's research is used with a bunch of diverse technology. Sure, people can use websites, but they should look at the source and who wrote it.
Language section by Lisa Marie
Both types of research differ and have contrasting outcomes in their final results. AI has its ups and downs (especially down). While many books have not made people's work come off as heartless and brainless, AI has made this mistake. In a Times Magazine article, author Andrew R. Chow says that an MIT team had done a research test on using GPT to write an article andthe outcome was that “The group that wrote essays using ChatGPT all delivered extremely similar essays that lacked original thought, relying on the same expressions and ideas. Two English teachers who assessed the essays called them largely 'soulless'.” AI is a thing with no human emotion. It is a hypocrite (an actor, an imposter); it can only act as a human and can never have the full effect of being real life.
Both generations of research tools are different in their own ways. Each has its own qualities that impact the research needed for the project. Either one can have a positive or negative impact on the outcome of the analysis. It all depends on how the sources are used. If book sources or text are used incorrectly, then it might give off the wrong idea. If AI is falsely used, then the work can come off as plain, boring, not to-the-point, or even wrong. Regardless of how information is found, researchers should be aware of the cause and effect of each research style.
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