Determining the Suitability

of Online Research Materials

Beth Thompson

Research Projects

Frequently teachers require that students use a specific number of sources of a certain

format for their research projects, i.e.:

“X number of book sources and Y number of internet sources”

e.g.: “You must use at least 2 book sources and no more than 3 internet sources”

In today’s world

Libraries subscribe to

DATABASES which contain

digital versions of print resources

These databases are a very inexpensive way of accessing

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

worth of magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, books, papers and dissertations,

and other print resources

Many teachers say that if a source is accessed by a computer, it does not count as a

“book” source…

I DISAGREE WITH THIS!!!

WHY?HERE’S JUST ONE EXAMPLE:

http://www.ssppeaston.org/schools/

Here is another example:

Literature Resource Centera Gale Database available through the Talbot County

Free Library website

CONCLUSION:Sources that can be retrieved

from subscription databases are, for the most part

respectable and trustworthy.

In other words, they are good!

NOW, HOW DO WE JUDGE

SOURCES THAT ARE FOUND DOING A

REGULAR INTERNET SEARCH?

Do a search using a commonsearch engine such as:

• YAHOO• GOOGLE• ASK

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ABOUT A SOURCEFROM THE URL?

(web address link)

RULES OF THUMB

a) if it ends in .com it is a BUSINESSb) If it ends in .gov it is a GOVERNMENT AGENCYc) .edu is usually a SCHOOL, COLLEGE, or UNIVERSITYd) .org might be OK, but you may want to do further

research e) Wikipedia shows up in most searches, but many

teachers do not allow students to use it as a source (although references at the end of the articles may point to further sources)

FURTHER WAYS TO DETERMINERELIABILITY OF A WEB SOURCE

• Who links to it? In the Google search box type: link: [all or part of URL]

• Who owns the web site?- Go to www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois- Enter domain name into box

• When was the site last updated? Go to the page you want to double-

check, highlight the address bar content and paste this into the address

bar - javascript:alert(document.lastModified)

Then, press ENTER. The last date modified will pop up.

CONCLUSION THE FUTURE IS NOW! More and more professional, scholarly

and scientific materials are being published in digital format, accessible online through databases and internet searches

EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO JUDGE INTERNET SOURCES

That goes for print sources, too Any questions?