Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Library Sources:
Librarians Databases (Academic Search Premiere, JSTOR, etc.) Books Website
Evaluating Sources
Books Pro: Often reliable Con: Might not be current; sometimes books can be self-published and unreliable Journals Pro: Often reliable; peer reviewed (others have looked at and commented on it); offer Works Cited pages that can lead you to further research resources Con: Can be difficult to navigate Newspapers (i.e. The New York Times, The Washington Post) Pro: Current info.; Easy to find and understand Con: Because some stories are in progress information can change
Popular Magazines (i.e. Time, Newsweek) Pro: Often reliable; easily accessible with web sources Con: Because some stories are in progress information can change Trade Magazines (i.e. Business Traveler) Pro: Have very specific information on a topic Con: Are written from an insiders perspective, so you must be very familiar with the content before you try to synthesize it for an audience Public Affairs Magazines (i.e. Harpers, Public Affairs) Pro: Often Reliable Con: Because some stories are in progress information can change Specialty Magazines (Southern Living, Business Week) Pro: Have very specific information on a topic Con: Are written from an insiders perspective, so you must be very familiar with the content before you try to synthesize it for an audience
Blogs
Blogs are generally written by people who want to share opinions. In some cases, blogs are written by experts, but in many cases, they are written by people trying to state their opinion. It is important to be cautious if using blogs. http://www.churchofsaban.com/
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. There are some safeguards on certain pages, but many are open to changes from anyone on the site. For this reason, it is not a reliable source to use in your paper. It might be a good place to start (to give you general ideas of what to look for) but should not be used in your academic papers. http://www.wikipedia.org/
Questions to Consider
Who is the author? What is the text about? What is the quality of the information? What is the focus of the printed or online text you are considering? How thoughtful and research-based is it? Does the text seem designed to sensationalize the topic, or does it take a more balanced, thoughtful approach? When was the text published or the website updated? Why was the information published? Who is the target audience for this text? Where was the item published? How Accurate is the information in this source?
gov-this indicates some level of government. These sites are maintained by some government entity (local, state, or national). http://www.whitehouse.gov/ .net- this generally indicates a site that that is used by internet service providers and companies that provide web hosting. Commercial businesses also use this extension in some cases. The web hosting sites also allow customers to use this extension for picture sharing and other activities. http://en.artintern.net/ .biz-generally indicates a small business. http://websitebuilding.biz/ .info-generally indicates an unrestricted domain that anyone can use. http://www.rockymountainwildlandfire.info/websites.htm http://www.networksolutions.com/ offers a whols search function that allows you to obtain information about the creator of a page. If you cant find the web page, it is likely a personal page and probably unreliable.