Evaluating What You Find

1
Evaluating What You Find
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Learn to look critically.
3
What is this thing?Is it...

• A magazine or journal article?
• A newspaper article?
• A chapter from a book (or an entire book)?
• A pamphlet?
• A government document?
• Somebodys web page (not a journal or newspaper
  on the Web)?
• Something else?

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Magazines v. Scholarly Journals

• Stuffed with ads
• Visually stimulating (colors, etc.)

• Bland appearance.
• Few (if any) ads

• No lists of references
• No author credentials

• Bibliographies/references
• Author credentials

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Magazines

• Sometimes OK
• Presentation to the general public
• If in doubt clarify with your professor.

6
Journal Articles

• Is the journal refereed, or peer reviewed.
• Ulrichs
• Limit Feature in Expanded Academic Index
• If not, was it
• Recommended by your professor or a librarian?
• Included in an academic database?
• Listed in a bibliography of a scholarly article?

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Magazines and Journals

• Remember to check for a particular bias or slant
  the magazine or journal might have.
• Check Magazines for Libraries.

8
Newspapers

• Heard of it?
• Find it in a library subscription database?
• Have a by-line?
• If not, check the Gale Directory to see
• What is the circulation?
• How long have they been around?
• News Article vs. Editorial

9
Books

• Sources for book reviews
• Expanded Academic Index
• Book Review Index
• Lexis Nexis
• Book Review Digest
• Remember to watch for a bias in the reviewing
  source too!

10
Government Documents

• Can trust a gov doc as much as you trust the
  governmental agency or organization who produced
  it.
• Watch for any bias the government agency might
  have.
• How current is it?

11
Web Sites
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Remember...

• Web is inherently unreliable.
• Here today, gone tomorrow
• Servers go down.
• Web addresses change.
• People change the text on their Web page or
  delete a Web page entirely.
• BOTH make note of the URL AND print the Web page.

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Determining the quality and reliability of the
resources you use in your research is ultimately
YOUR responsibility.
14

• http//www.prodeathpenalty.com/
• http//sun.soci.niu.edu/critcrim/dp/dp.html
• http//justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/
• http//www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do
• http//www.ushmm.org/conscience/
• http//www.corax.org/revisionism/misc/misc.html
• http//www.ihr.org/leaflets/inside.shtml
• http//www.beefnutrition.org/documents/ACF1BDE.pdf
  
• http//198.102.218.57/dietaryguidelines/dga2000/do
  cument/choose.htmlowfat
• http//www.georgewbush.com/
• http//www.gwbush.com/
• http//www2.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Newsroom/Publ
  ications/TheLampWntr0203/page_3.html