The following was originally going to appear at the beginning of this post, but it didn't quite fit so I took it out minutes after first publishing it. But I liked the discarded section, and so it's ending up here.
I've just noticed something about how I find information on the internet: I have different ways of searching. At one end of the spectrum there's the professional research mode, where I use a wide variety of search resources and databases, depending on what I'm looking for. In this mode, I approach my subject from a number of different angles and try to be skeptical of my sources. When I search in this way, it seems effective, but it's also time-consuming and tiring. I'm not in full-on research mode very often, that would seem like running around carrying a heavy sledgehammer.
At the other end of the continuum there's when I just "look stuff up". This is quick and easy and lazy, but for the most part it works. When it doesn't, I usually increase the intensity of my searching until I find what I'm looking for.
But I have to tell myself again and again, that most normal people (in this context, people who aren't librarians) don't have as many options.
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