Transcript Are you sure about that? - Durham District School Board

I AM THE GATEKEEPER
Research using Databases and Google
What’s the Information for?
What’s the
purpose of the
information?
Personal
Google,
Wikipedia,
etc.
Peers, colleagues,
friends, parents
Databases, Newspapers,
Magazines, Scholarly Journals,
Encyclopedias, Texts, Statistics
Canada, etc.
Academic or
Professional
Professionals, Specialists,
Teachers, Professors, etc.
Carefully assessed
websites based on
specific credibility
criteria (Google)
How does Google Work?
But the problem is…
1. The higher the frequency the
use of the page, the more
prominent the placement –
even if the information is
incorrect.
2. You become the
“gatekeeper” for the
credibility of a website.
3. Money talks.
And Wikipedia?
Well…
If you’ve got the money…
Googling also gets you…
Databases!
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Databases provide peer-edited, collated
information.
The professional is the gatekeeper.
Googling: You are the gatekeeper
You have to evaluate the credibility of all sources: traditional and digital media
When using a broad search engine, you will
need to assess the credibility of the sites.
Let’s give it a shot…
http://www.dhmo.org/
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
What’s the Criteria?
When Evaluating Websites, you need to think about the following:
Authority:
• Who is the author?
• Can you trust him/her?
• What are his/her credentials?
Objectivity:
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What is the author’s purpose?
Who is the intended audience?
Is the author biased?
Does the author use objective or subjective
language (e.g. racial slurs or stereotypes)
• Does the work contain facts, opinions, or
propaganda?
What’s the Criteria?
When Evaluating Websites, you need to think about the following:
Accuracy:
• Are the facts correct? Can you find them in
other research?
• Are the opinions supported with data or
references to other work?
Completeness:
• Does the work answer your question
completely?
• Is there enough information to make the
source “valuable”?
What’s the Criteria?
When Evaluating Websites, you need to think about the following:
Currency:
• What is the publication date?
• Is it current? Does it matter if
the information is current?
Relevancy:
• Did you find the information you needed
for your topic?
• Does it provide more detailed information
that is not related to your topic?
How am I supposed to remember?
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You can check out this slideshow on the Tutorials Page of
our Website.
There are also a lot of other resources on there:
This slideshow
 How to Format an Essay for MLA with headings (Word
Document)
 How to Format a report in APA (video)
 How to Format a Word Document in MLA and APA (video)
 APA and MLA Annotated Bibliography
 MLA and APA Quick Guides (Word Documents)
 Note-Taking Sheets (Word Document)

See?