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| Image from the blog OneSheep |
When it comes to getting sources online, many people/students will take what
they first encounter for granted, assuming that it is a reliable source. This
is often false as over time many of us have made Wikipedia our "go to" site for
any information. While Wikipedia is a useful site in its own right, it should
not be trusted as an academic gold standard. Because of this teachers have had to
start instructing their students on how to adequately find a site with solid
information upon which we can build our papers and opinions.
Here are some good
ways to critically check the site you plan on using:
- Look at the lay out of the site. Does this seem
crisp, like someone put effort into compiling this information? If not, this
may be symptomatic of how much your should trust the information displayed on
the site. While this is not always true, it can be quite helpful.
- Look at the date the information was posted. Has
it been updated? If not, this could be out of date.
- See if there is an “About us” or “About me”
section. If they have a history, it would be good for your to know it.
- Look for peer reviews or some other form of
review. While you may not have had the time to research the article or author’s
background, others sometimes have.
- Check the domain of the address. Does it end in
.com or .net? Or does it end in .edu or .gov? These all mean something and it
can be the difference between a biased company putting out the information or
an academic journal.
- Check who funds the site. This could just be a
way to put out false information from a biased source.
Some ways to find trusted sources:
If there are any other ways to check your sources that you think I have overlooked, please feel free to comment below!
- Do an advanced search on Google and take out the any key words or domains that you know aren’t worth trusting. To do this you must first do a Google search and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Advanced Search” link.
- You can skip the last step and just use Google Scholar. This site will only search and display a certain type of source. Combine this with Google Books and you might be able to find a local library or store with your source!
- Use an academic journal database. These are often listed on college websites in the library section, and users usually have to pay a fee to become a member. Once you have access to these sites you are able to find amazing articles. These sites can also be used to find book reviews, which will help to check whether you should rely on what you may have found elsewhere. Of these databases, my personal favorite is JSTOR. If you have a moment, you might want to take a look!
If there are any other ways to check your sources that you think I have overlooked, please feel free to comment below!
I will have to look into that academic journal database. I've never heard of it. Back when I was in college, I spent hours going through microfiche in the basement of the SDSU library. Glad those days are gone! Much easier to use a search engine!
ReplyDeleteI've never used those, though when I was in college I worked in the archives of our library and I think those were kept there. My boss would always laugh about the faces of the students when she would show them the older versions of archiving information. I think she actually taught a class this semester and had the students write an essay using only the college archives for references. She must have had a ball with that one!
DeleteJSTOR is really amazing, especially if you're working in History, which was my field. I recommend it. However, those databases are definitely costly if you're not a student, but even MiraCosta has a JSTOR account, so you don't have to pay the big bucks to gain access.