Research: what Google did next and the fix
Since I wrote that article, Google has changed to rely very much on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the robotics that go with it. This, as you may already be aware if you've read my previous articles, goes against the grain regarding what I am about.
Instead of recommending that you should have no qualms about relying totally on Google's output, I am now saying 'take care' if you use the search engine for any or all of your research, because AI can and does get things wrong. That, on its own, should be a warning sign.
So, what's the alternative? Well, strange as it may seem, I now recommend 'old school'. Yes, I am talking about text books, where facts and figures contained within their pages have been checked, checked and checked again before being allowed to be published in print.
Those of us who have been brought up to perform research through reading existing books will understand the method; us Boomers do have our uses occasionally and this is one such time when our method outplays our perceived madness. We may be old now but we were young once and that meant learning how to do a whole raft of things that the generations who have since followed us can never ever begin to imagine.
My recommendation now is, if you need to research anything from local history to who designed the Hovercraft and everything in between, get yourself down to your local reference library, or search in any charity shops that have not closed down and seek out as many reference books as you can comfortably afford to buy. Then read them and have them to hand for when you eventually need them for research purposes.