Choosing and Evaluating Resources

 

Knowing where to go to find the information you need can be challenging. 

Books are excellent sources when looking for information that has been around for a while.  Topics that have a history and have been well-studied are good candidates for books.  Histories and literary ciritcism are commonly published in book form. How to find books.

E-Books are written on the same subjects as books, but they are available outside of the library through the internet.  There are also many E-Books written on computing and technology. How to find E-Books.

Journal Articles are written on scholarly topics, especially new or developing topics.  Sciences and social sciences are especially reliant on journal articles for getting new scholarship out there.  

Newspapers and Magazines report news and current events.  They don't qualify as "scholarly" literature. 

Websites can give you up-to-the-minute information on most topics, but they can also be published by anyone.  It is important to consider the source of material on websites before using them in your research.  How to find and select suitable websites.

No matter what source of information one chooses, it is important to take a closer look at the resource to make sure the information is reliable.  Identifying the author of the information, who made it available (the publisher, journal, or owner of the website), when the information was publihsed and it whether or not it was reviewed (either "peer-reviewed" as a scholarly publication or talked about by others in the field) is very important to establishing your source as one that can be trusted.  Evaluating information on the internet can be especially tricky since one does not necessarily know who made it available. (This tutorial is pretty helpful when thinking about where to get your web information.)

For more information about choosing which articles and websites to use for research, check out these sites:

 

Selecting Resouces - Tutorial that helps decide which type of information to use. Includes "Tilt-o-meter" game and quiz.

Beginning Research - Similar tutorial that discusses the difference between library and web resources.  Includes "Think Fast" game and quiz.

Evaluating Sources - Guide to evaluating both print and internet sources of information.

Evaluating Resources Tutorial - Tutorial to that discusses finding books in libraries, evaluating resources on criteria, and evaluating webpages with quiz.

Using the Web - Tutorial that discusses using web resources and how to find trustworthy ones.  It includes pages to evaluate and a quiz.

This E-Book is available through the NetLibrary to help you get started:

(To learn more about accessing E-books through the library view our E-Books.)

The World At Your Fingertips: Learning Research and Internet Skills (2002) - Kay, Heidi & DelVecchio, Karen.