As a writer, I am quite fond of the written word. With the rise of technology in schools, is the written word now becoming obsolete? Are children being taught to turn to computers for their answers rather than books? Is good, old-fashioned research in musty libraries being replaced with quick and easy internet search pages?

I don't think it's becoming obselete. It's just a not so much used tool anymore. Computers can give you the information you are looking for faster than a book.



Some are. When i had to write papers in school, we had to use books besides the internet. So i think that i would have to say NO



Yes and no. My reasons are in my answer the last question

Well, children still read books, but I don't think they ever really had huge focus on it. Personally, what they call an "8th grade level" seems more like a 5th or 6th grade level to me, and what they call a "12th grade level" seems more like a 9th or 10th.

As for more internet use isntead of books, yes. And I don't see why that would be a bad thing, really.

I suppose it's the English major coming out in me, but there is just something about sitting in a library surrounded by piles and piles of books, and doing "real" research as opposed to point, click, and print research. I admit, I did use the internet on occasion to do research a topic while I was earning my degree, and yes, it was easier. But, again, there's just something about the smell of musty old books, and flipping through brittle pages that gets my blood going. Is internet research perpetuating laziness in the classroom?

Unless you have a network of computers in every home, it won't happen. Can you imagine a child wanting to read the latest Harry Potter book on the computer? The rest of the family would be wanting their time on the computer and a big fight would occur. And it is still easier to take a book on vacation than a computer.
I do use mine a lot while reading some books.
There are still authors out there who like to impress us with obscure words and references that I have to look up and the internet is the way to go for that.

A few years ago I used to write quite a few short articles for various reference books. It didn't pay very much, but it was enjoyable and I was able to see my words in print in real books. I would go down to the library and get information out of books and journals and boil it down into the essentials, written for the layperson.

I can't do that anymore. The way that computers have taken over libraries makes research very difficult. I can't say why, because most of you seem to find that it makes research easier. I must just be a dinosaur or a Luddite, but give me the books over the screen every time. I strictly use the computer for fun (like this site) or to buy stuff.

I don't think that the written word is becoming obsolete. Whether it is presented in electronic format or on paper, it is still the written word. The internet is merely a more easily accessible forum for finding certain information, especially information concerning current events. I can't speak for all schools, but at my college, one of the required texts in my English Composition class was a book about using internet sources. It focused on determining reliability of the sources and how to cite them. The research project also required the use of several different types of sources, including internet sources, books, and periodicals. Additonally, with copyright laws as they are, there is still a very large amount of information that is not available on the net. This, in and of itself, keeps books in paper format from being obsolete.

I will say that with the availability of public domain texts at such sites as The Gutenberg Project and Bartleby, I do tend to read more electronic texts than books in paper format. I love it, because I can download the classics to my handheld, and since it is backlit, I can read in the dark before I go to sleep.

Looks like you and I are in complete agreement, Victoria. One big cheer for books!

There are still advantages to the printed word - as far as I'm aware, no electronic media is yet as portable or as cheap as a newspaper, and there are still books that have not been scanned electornically - the majority, I would imagine.

I have never read a "book" online, and doubt if I ever will.

I recently read my first book online. It was an online text version of The House Behind the Cedars for my english 301 class (Intro to Lit for English Majors). I can honestly say that while I saved about 8 bucks reading it online I much perfer having a paper copy of books. Reading an entire novel online is a strain on the eyes.

anyway...onto the next part of what I wanted to say;
Most teachers both in High School and College level classes ask for book, magazine or journal sources in addition to the web sources. They'll put a minimum on the number of non-web sources. Checking your web sources for credibility should be brought up in research type classes, I know I've had a couple instructors discuss this issue.

Nowadays many print sources can be found online. I know my university has a library webpage where many journals can be accessed online in full text (some only students can access). http://www.lib.umd.edu/ I used this for an anthropology assignment and it worked out quite nicely. I think that its great that many books, journals and otherwise generally printed material can be found online now. This feature makes accessiblity a lot better. Most libraries do not have it all. Tho, neither does the internet which is an important thing to stress.

I dont think print sources are becoming obsolete, I just think that people are turning to them less for "basic" information or quick lookups. I love books, thus my major, and I hope to have a rather large bookshelf/personal library one day. I think thats where almost all my spending money goes. I must admit tho that I frequently use the web for information and libraries often frustrate me (esp. when they are reorganizing stacks or something of that nature which makes things exceedingly hard to locate). My guess is a lot of people feel similarly.

The written word will never become obsolete until they make a computer you can fold up and take with you to the men's room.