In present-day knowledge societies, competent reading involves the integration of information from multiple sources into a coherent, meaningful representation of a topic, issue, or situation. This article reviews research and theory concerning the comprehension of multiple textual resources, focusing especially on linkages recently established between dimensions of epistemic beliefs and multiple-text comprehension. Moreover, a proposed model incorporates epistemic beliefs into a theoretical framework for explaining multiple-text comprehension, specifying how and why different epistemic belief dimensions may be linked to the comprehension and integration of multiple texts. Also discussed is the need for further research concerning mediational mechanisms, causality, and generalizability. Are sun rays healthy or harmful? Can mobile phones actually cause brain cancer? Is global warming due to mankind's activities or to natural causes? In present-day knowledge societies, individuals seeking to answer such questions, on behalf of themselves or others, indeed have a wealth of information resources to draw on. Those resources may be available through traditional print and broadcasting technologies or through new information and communication technologies, such as the Internet. In any case, attempts to provide wellfounded answers require that individuals synthesize or integrate information from source materials expressing diverse Correspondence should be addressed to Ivar Bråten,
In a sample of 157 Norwegian political science undergraduates, two dimensions of epistemological beliefs concerning Internet-based knowledge and knowing were identified through factor analysis. The first dimension, general Internet epistemology, ranged from the integrated view that the Internet is an essential source of true, specific facts to doubt about the Internet as a good source of true, factual knowledge. The other dimension, justification for knowing, ranged from the view that Internet-based knowledge claims can be accepted without critical evaluation to the view that knowledge claims encountered on the Internet should be checked against other sources, reason, and prior knowledge. Further, it was found that students' personal epistemology concerning Internet-based knowledge and knowing predicted their self-reports of Internet-search and -communication activities in better and more consistent ways than did Internet self-efficacy beliefs.
141Ó 2005, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
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