Working in academic libraries for several years, I have noticed that college students rely heavily on the Internet for research. For most people, opening a browser means connecting to the world's library of information. At the same time, some college students are unaware of the risk of using online information without evaluation (Gross and Latham, 35). They tend to focus on relevance more than quality. This is why so many professors are surprised to see how much information their students use comes from biased, inaccurate, and commercial websites. This essay aims to provide a holistic view of online information and how students can improve their research ability in the digital age. To understand how information is communicated online, students must understand the basics of global networking. The Internet, it seems, is a connection of millions of networks of various organizations. The network, according to Shelly and Vermaat, is “a collection of computers and devices connected together, often wirelessly, through communications devices and transmission media… Networks allow computers to share resources, such as hardware, software, data, and information ” (10 ). Networks can be as small as a geographic region, often called a local area network (LAN), or “a LAN that uses no cables” (472), up to a metropolitan area network (MAN) and a wide area network (WAN). The largest network that users connect to is the Internet. Users can access another user's hard drive and exchange files over the Internet, called a peer to peer or P2P network (Shelly and Vermaat, 475). The most frequently used type is more among customers than among the companies providing the servers. Used first and foremost as ... middle of paper ...... y" (92). To this day, the Internet is still expanding to almost every corner of the world. With more information accessible 24/7, college students should also upgrade their knowledge and skills to adapt to this massive movement. In essence, evaluating information is more important than locating information in the digital age and everyone can and should be informed in the digital age. Works Cited Gross , Melissa and Don Latham. “University Perceptions of Information Literacy: Defining, Attaining, and Self-Assessing Competencies.” University and Research Libraries 70.4 (2009): 336-350 2013. Shelly, Gary B., Misty Vermaat, Jeffrey J. Quasney, Susan L. Sebok, and Steven M. Freund. Discovering Computers 2011: Living in a Digital World. Boston, MA: Course Technology, Cengage Learning, 2011 . Press.