Transcript Searching for and Evaluating Sources

Searching & Evaluating
Resources
Rhetoric 1302
Carol Oshel
Reference Librarian
972-883-2627
[email protected]
Internet / the Web




Contains text, images, sound and video
Numerous hits with many duplicates
Anyone can publish pages on the web
Unregulated source of information
Searching the Web




Government information and websites
Associations and Organizations
Current news
Background info / preliminary research

Always search the web with a
critical eye
Electronic Databases or
Indexes



Index journal articles, books,
newspaper articles, dissertation etc.
Cover a variety of topics – some subject
specific (e.g. ERIC – education)
Some are full text

When you are looking for articles
on a topic start here
Searching Periodical
Databases




Need to research articles, especially
scholarly
Greater concern for authoritative
sources
More powerful “advanced” searching
Need newspaper or journal
archives/backfiles
Popular Magazine
or
Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journal


Tutorial at:
http://www.utdallas.edu/%7Ecxo02500
0/scholarlyjournalsfirstpage.htm
Selecting Your Database



Choose by subject
Or from the alphabetical list
(descriptions given for individual
databases)
Ask a Reference Librarian
Developing a Search Strategy





Select a topic
Identify keywords
Identify synonyms
Group concepts and add connectors
(Boolean)
Use truncation and/or wildcard keys if
available
Selecting a Topic and
Determining Keywords


After deciding on a topic, (Define/Evaluate
yourself – culturally, as a leader, racially, etc)
write down the topic in the form of a
sentence or question.
Is there a typical middle-aged, first-born,
female, Anglo-Saxon? Yes, you’re looking at
one.
 Look at your question and pull out the
most important words.
Identifying Synonyms
(Use a thesaurus)





Take your keywords and find other words that
also describe your topic. Also write down
narrower and broader terms to help refine
your search.
First-born – birth order, sibling rivalry
Female – sex, gender
English - English, race, national heritage,
nationalism
Discrimination, qualities, characteristics,
englishness, culture, immigrant, personality
Group Concepts

Group concepts together by
parentheses or quotation marks
“Anglo Saxon” or “english”
“first born” or “birth order”
personality OR traits OR characteristics
Add connectors

Connectors (Boolean)
AND-both terms must appear together in
the record (narrows search)
 OR-either term appears in the record
(broadens search)
 NOT-placed before term omits all
records featuring this term in them (use
NOT carefully – it may omit results that
you had not intended)

Examples
(birth order OR first born) AND personality
Using Academic Search Premier
Using a Subject-Specific
Database

Try english AND personality

In PsychInfo
Broaden or Narrow the Search



Try english AND national AND identity
Then try english national identity (as a
phrase) in
Sociological Abstracts
Evaluating Sources (ABC’s)
Crucial for Web Searching!
Audience
 Authority
 Bias
 Currency
 Scope

Audience


What age group/education
level/political affiliation/etc. is the
audience?
Is this for a person with in-depth
knowledge or a layperson?
Authority



Does the author’s name appear on the
Web page?
What are his/her credentials?
Does the author provide contact
information?
Bias



Is the source objective?
Could the writer’s or the
organization’s affiliation put a
different spin on the information
presented?
What is the purpose of the source?
Currency





When was the work published?
When was the work last updated?
How old are the sources or items in
the bibliography?
How current is the topic?
If a Web page, do the links work?
Scope




What does/doesn’t the work cover?
Is it an in-depth study (many
pages) or superficial (one page)?
Are sources and statistics cited?
If a site, does it offer unique info
not found in any other source?
Choose Your Sources Wisely


No matter how much time and effort
that you put into your paper, it will be
only as good as the sources that you
use
Choose a variety of sources (reference
materials, journals, essays, books,
statistics, documented research, letters)
Use magazines to add interest,
emotion, humor, opinion, etc.

I think genetic
testing should
be done
because then
there wouldn’t
be so many
diseases.


Experts in the treatment of
multiple sclerosis say more
children are being diagnosed
with MS, an autoimmune
disease… (USA Today) . If
you were the mother of one of
these children, would you be for
or against gene therapy, if gene
therapy could cure your child?
(this is NOT academic research)
Citing your sources




MLA, APA, Chicago Manual of Style, and
other citation manuals available at the
Reference Desk.
Links from Other Useful Web Sites
(Library Page)
Copies may be available in Main Stacks
Need help citing? The Writing Lab can
help.
Other Library Services

Telephone Reference
972-883-2955





Monday – Thursday 8:00
a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00
p.m.
Saturday 10:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
Sunday 1:00 p.m. - 10:00
p.m.
E-mail Reference
“Ask A Librarian”

http://www.utdallas.ed
u/library/reference/eref
form.htm

By appointment with a
reference librarian



Contact Loreen Phillips
 [email protected]
u
Stop by the reference desk
and ask
Ask a UT System
Librarian-Chat


Monday-Thurs. 12:00-6:00
pm; Friday 12:00-4:00 pm CST
http://www.lib.utsystem.edu/s
tudents/ask.html
CREDITS
Original content created by Stephanie Isham & Matt Makowka.
Updated September 2005 by Carol Oshel
Edited by Susie Kutchi
The University of Texas at Dallas Libraries
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University
P. O. Box 830643 Richardson, TX 75083-0643 972-883-2955