This is a study based on the experiences of students at San Francisco State University's Introduction to Internet and Electronic Research class in Spring 1998 and 1999. The course deals with database searching fundamentals, the development of search strategies and techniques, and involves the use of Internet protocols (mail, ftp, telnet and Web browsers) to locate information relevant to research. The study seeks to discover what sorts of problems students encounter in their research, and thus provides some sense of how research can be made simpler or more usable. Problems can include: network connectivity (especially from home), difficulty sifting through enormous amounts of data, finding suitable search terms, knowing where to look for information, developing appropriate evaluative criteria to deal with the vast array of "Web resources", and technical problems. Lots of practice in searching databases, forcing students to gain a breadth of experience in various different databases, and utilizing topics of the students' own choosing all serve to extend student skill acquisition and independence. Increased knowledge of exactly how search engines operate helped improve students' discrimination of information quality. Many more of these kinds of skill sets need to be integrated into other parts of the curriculum, particularly department methodology courses.