Face it; it's easy and familiar to many people. Also, the Web is a great resource for research because it's so vast; you can find primary documents, news stories, research papers, pictures, movies, sound, government reports, and more. For research you would use the Web to:
Learn to choose your Web resources wisely in this video by Prentiss Price-Evans.
Use Google Scholar to find scholarly literature on the Web
Here are some reputable Web sites you can use to start mining the Web for reliable sources of information. Mouse over the sites' names to read a brief description.