The first encounter I had with online Ashford University Library really helped me understand what research was all about. The online platform offers numerous features that include a search function, interactive support and book sources, among other services. An online platform has numerous advantages that exceed the other system where students are required to visit the libraries so as to access the information resources.
To begin with, the online library can be accessed from anywhere. I do not have to get to the library and borrow the resources, but rather, I can access it over the internet anywhere and anytime. Having access to the library reduces the cost of travel and overcrowding of library where a huge population of scholars goes to seek for the information. Besides, the library resources can easily be searched and results obtained within seconds. The search function of the online platform enables a student to provide a keyword related to the information resource that he is searching and the system searches through the database to provide all the resources under the keyword. This is amazing, and a very useful feature as a student may provide a keyword containing several keywords and the resources results appear. There are many useful resources provided by the system which is used by students from as many fields as possible, and therefore the students will not suffer the lack of information.
Some of the concerns that are raised when searching through the online Ashford University Library resources are that the resources are only available to the students who are registered to the system. This means that no one can access the library resources if they are not registered. Besides, the library provides limited resources, unlike other online library platforms that are linked to numerous libraries over the web. While conducting research requires access to many resources and information from many authors, the information resources provided by the system cannot enable a student to write a high-quality paper as they are limited to information. Another major issue with the online platform is that the research performed by students of some courses such as nursing utilize only evidence-based information and therefore they may not require the use of library resources. Such courses are very sensitive such since it requires nurses to provide safe, current and compassionate care for clients. Even though the online library may provide a large amount of information, most of this information is not important to be considered for scholarly use. This is because even though some of them are excellent resources, some are very questionable.
Doing research has become very easy as the platform offers all the support for research to be completed successfully, for example, the referencing feature minimizes the time was taken to identify all the elements needed to create a reference. The online library offers lots of tutorials concerning conducting research. An example of information resource is ‘conducting educational research’ by Bruce Tuckman. By reading the paper, I learned the applicable methods of conducting research, how to conduct research, the limitations associated and documenting the results of the research. The paper provides tutorials on choosing the best strategy of conducting findings depending on the nature of research topic and target audience.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in nursing research papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for article critique writing services.
