Transcript BIO 103 - Jacob Berg`s Online Portfolio

BIO 103
July 17th, 2009
Critical Thinking About Disease
© Jacob Berg
[email protected]
Overview
• Google
– .com, .org,…
• Wikipedia
• Databases
– At the Library
• Physically
• Online
– Peer reviewed
Google
• Ranks websites by popularity
– Not accuracy, not relevance, but popularity
• Is good for:
– PLoS: Public Library of Science
• Peer reviewed
– Government websites: Nat’l Inst of Health,
AIDS.gov…
– Associations: American Cancer Society, American
Heart Association…
– And that’s about it
Google
• But we can rank the hits that Google gives
us.
• Accuracy vs. Scholarly
– Ben and Jerry’s “BGH information may be accurate, but it isn't
scholarly. Be careful of that important distinction. Not all accurate
information is scholarly.”
• Rule of thumb: Website Profiling
– .gov
– .org/.edu
– .com
Quiz Time!
Question 1
I’m giving you the website’s address (URL) and title, and that’s it. Based on that
information alone, answer the following 5 questions.
Of the following websites, which is the best
for scholarly materials (circle one)?
(a) http://www.cancer.gov/
(b) http://www.cancer.org
(c) http://www.cancer.com
Question 2
When investigating the effects of chemical warfare, you
come across three websites. Which of these are you
most likely to use in a research paper?
(a) http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/a/aa040303a.htm
“Chemical Weapons and Warfare Agents”
(b) http://cpc.au.af.mil/chemical.htm “United States Air Force Counter
Proliferation Center: Chemical Weapons”
(c) http://www.wmdawareness.org.uk/chemical-weapons/view/chemicalweapons-effects-of-chemical-weapons “Come Clean; Chemical Weapons
- Effects of Chemical Weapons”
Question 3
You are traveling to sub-Saharan Africa and would like to
know more information about avoiding malaria. Which
of the following three websites has the most relevant
information?
(a) http://malaria.jhsph.edu/ “Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute”
(b) http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/ “CDC – Malaria”
(c) http://www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Pages/malaria.aspx “Malaria Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”
Question 4
When investigating flesh-eating bacteria, you come across
three websites. Which of these are you most likely to
use in a research paper?
(a) http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/necrotizing-fasciitis-flesheating-bacteria-topic-overview “Necrotizing Fasciitis (Flesh-Eating
Bacteria) – Topic Overview”
(b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrotizing_fasciitis “Necrotizing
fasciitis”
(c) http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/flesheating.html
“GIANTmicrobes | Flesh Eating (Streptococcus pyogenes)”
Question 5
Which of the following websites do you think
is most reputable?
(a) http://oncology.georgetown.edu/
(b) http://www.departmentofoncology.com/
(c) http://www.oncology.med.ualberta.ca/
Wikipedia/Trinity Library
• The wrong kind of peer review
• Too much editing… or not enough
– Anyone can do it!
• Instead, please use the Library website
– Encyclopedia Britannica Online
• Use this instead of Wikipedia
– CINAHL with full text
– Proquest Nursing
– Proquest Science Journals
Tips for searching
•
.gov > .org/.edu > .com
•
Break up your research topic or question
•
ALWAYS search full-text, scholarly journals to start scholarly research
– NOT GOOGLE, NOT WIKIPEDIA!
•
Look at the abstract of the article
•
Play around with keywords
•
Follow the citations
•
Print Journals in Room 208A
Thank you
Jacob ([email protected])