Chapter 4Research

UP B Class

Finding Credible Sources0Not all information your find is true0Steps for Examining Sources:

1- The author’s credentials: personal experiences or academic qualifications.

2- associations or affiliations: the author or publisher.

3- any noticeable bias from the source: Finding unbiased sources is nearly impossible, question the information

4-Does the author cite any sources? Make sure the sources stand up to scrutiny

5- Date of source: Check the dates on any source

Finding Credible Sources6-Incomplete or abridged: missing information or out of context

7- Reviews or Endorsement: positive reviews or endorsements

8- Reputable source: If it is reputable, then using this source is safe.

9- Loaded or vague terms: avoid sources that use terms like “many people believe”

10- Ulterior motive or agenda

Evaluating for Areas of Bias

0All sources will be biased in some way

0Each person has a perspective that influences the way they present their information

0Just because something is biased does not mean it’s not useful

Steps for Evaluating Bias0Primary or Secondary sources0Author admits to the bias

0Author might admit to their bias0As long at it is recognized, the source is still

useful

0Bias help support paper0Some biases can be beneficial to research

0Source purposefully misleading0Avoid sources that are vague, misleading, or

incomplete

Other Things to Consider0Consider the type of source that will be most

useful0Might be a wide range of books or journals on

your topic0Think about the appropriateness of a particular

source0Too informal or too formal inappropriate

sources0Ask for help!

Using the Library

0Best place to start a Research paper

0Librarian’s and assistants:0Librarians help in finding the sources for the

students

0Types of sources available:0Internet research0Books, periodicals, journals0Large quantities of quality unbiased sources

Using the Library0Come up with some key words or phrases and

write down the name of book and location in the library0Use synonyms for key words too0Pick up the key topics that suits for a research paper

0For long research paper : Encyclopedias , and various reference books are used

0Find for the narrower results that suits specific topic

Periodicals0News papers, magazines, and journals are

examples for periodicals.

0These help to find out the topic very quickly and more specifically

0Periodicals are replaced with online databases because they are updated and can search larger quantity of information

Using Online Library Databases.

0Online library databases are the best sources of articles.

0 It`s similar to searching the internet for information.

0Find excerpts from books and other sources on these databases.

0Academic databases are different from generic search engines.

How to select and search online databases.

0The library has information about how to access the online databases .

0 If you don`t find this information, ask a librarian for information about the online databases.

0 In most cases, you will find the list of databases in a computer in the library.

How to select and search online databases.

0To make the best use of these databases there are steps during your search:

0Find databases pertaining specifically to your topic, if possible.

0Set up the search parameters within the database to be as narrow as possible.

0Slowly expand your search to get additional results.0Move to the next database or a more general database in

needed.

Find databases pertaining specifically to your topic, if possible.

0Check the brief overview.

0Ask a librarian.

0Ask your professor for recommendations.

Set up the search parameters within the database to be as narrow as

possible.

0To get the most pertinent information

0Determine which options are available.

0 Include articles within a specific date range.

Slowly expand your search to get additional results.

0Your specific search will return few results.

0These results will be easier to sift through and will be current and applicable.

0 If you don`t enough sources, start to expand you’re the types of journals.

Move to the next database or a more general database in needed.

0 If you have a thoroughly searched one database.

0You can move to another to find more or better results.

0Different databases can present different jornals and archives.

Using the Internet0Types of extensions for websites:01. com: for commercial business or group.02. net: means network and its use is for

information technology.03. org: organization, used for personal

websites and nonprofits organization.04. edu: for educational.05. gov: for government.

Why Wikipedia is not safe source?

0Anonymous online community of users runs Wikipedia

0Wikipedia is often criticized for containing bias

0Having spoof articles

0Lacking citations

WikipediaDO: 0Check images, graphs and others figures, they can be

useful0Check to see if the article has been flagged for any

issues0Examine the sources listed at the bottom of the article

DON’T:0Treat Wikipedia as scholarly source0Quote or paraphrase Wikipedia in a paper0Accept everything written on Wikipedia as true

Using Blog Resource

Internet specific rules to keep in mind while evaluating potential online sources

01.Check the authorship of online information.02. Look for the date the website was last updated.0Try to verify any credentials an author claims to have.0Check for citations when they seem necessary.