The best reputable web research courses and certifications that offer professional level certifications in web/internet research are Future Learn’s Learning Online: Searching and Researching, John Academy’s Internet Research Method Training Course, and the Internet Business Associate Training by CIW Certified.
Table of Contents
1. LEARNING ONLINE: SEARCHING AND RESEARCHING
- This two-week web research course is offered online by Future Learn, in partnership with the University of Leeds, a leading research-based university in the UK.
- The course is aimed at helping people improve their online research skills and their ability to critically analyze information found online.
- The web research course is offered for free, allowing learners access to the course for only four weeks. There’s also a $30 upgrade package giving one unlimited access to the course as long the course is still on Future Learn and access to a printable digital certificate of achievement upon completion.
- In this course, learners will “explore the rich and diverse information available online, learn how to use search tools effectively, and think critically about the information they find online.”
- Also included in the short online course are ways to use search tools and techniques more effectively to locate appropriate sources and assessing the validity, relevance, and appropriateness of the sources to the research matter at hand.
- The course can be accessed here.
2. INTERNET RESEARCH METHOD TRAINING COURSE
- John Academy’s Internet Research Method Training Course teaches web researchers on how to build a sophisticated web research plan to conduct accurate surface and in-depth online research.
- The course outline includes:
- the importance of internet research skills
- laying out a search plan
- assessing the relevance, credibility, and validity of sources
- applying different tools for both surface and deep searching
- arranging research notes
- Upon completing the course, the learner sits for an online MCQ test that determines if he is successful or not.
- After successfully passing the course, one obtains an Accredited Certificate of Achievement at the cost of £39 for a hard copy and £24 for a PDF file.
- The £18.00 course can be accessed here.
3. CIW CERTIFIED’S INTERNET BUSINESS ASSOCIATE TRAINING
- Internet Business Associate Training is a blanket course that encompasses many aspects of today’s web-based business environment.
- Among other things, the course teaches learners about databases and their relationships to search engines, as well as how to use search engines to carry out basic and advanced web research, internet research, and collaboration tools.
- The web research course has received state approval by being awarded the CAPE and Gold Standard by the state of Florida and making it to the state of California’s A-G List.
- Upon successfully passing and completing the course, learners receive the CIW Internet Business Associate certification, which is an industry-recognized certification that comes with salary perks.
- The course can be accessed here.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
To identify the best, notable services, or educational institutions that offer web/internet research courses, we scoured through credible databases and industry sources such as Future Learn, American Writers and Artists Inc, Slideshare, and CIW Certified. These are potential sources for online certifications, so we leveraged them to identify any web research courses. While some of these sources only contained information on the best practices when searching online, we were able to glean some information on professional level certifications in web research. In as much as web research has been around for a while, ‘Internet Research Specialist’ is still a relatively new job title, so there is limited information on a structured curriculum, education, or training on the same.
