Monthly Archives: November 2010

Today for library research I learned many tips when looking for information online. First, I learned to always check where my sources are from. The source would be more useful and scholarly if you make sure the information was taken from a trustworthy site (edu/gov/org). Second, I learned to check who wrote the source because an article from a person who is a professional in that subject is better than a blog post from a random blog. Third, to look at the citation to see how trustworthy the source is.

Problem: I don’t know if I can trust the information on a site even though it looks trustworthy.

Today, I learned that the author of a source is just as important as the source you are using. If the author’s credentials aren’t up to par, he/she may not not be a credible enough source to cite when doing research. Another thing that I learned about today was how to assess the credentials of authors to determine how reliable the author might be. Things, such as their work history and publications, are good indicators to how credible they might be. Something else that I learned today was how a search engine sorts the results. The more a link is cited, the higher it would appear in a search.

One thing I’m a little skeptical about is whether we learned accurate tests of determining the most reliable and scholarly sources. What if someone published an article that introduced some very interesting topics, but he didn’t cite any scholarly peer-reviewed sources? Would his work be any less valuable, even though his information is just as valid, as someone whose work is peer reviewed and written using scholarly sources?

One thing I learned about research today is the find it button and what it is used for, which is to locate a specific article you have found in the Baruch database for example. I have also learned about the Marquis Who’s Who database which could be helpful in searching current biographies and was helpful for today’s in class activity on Yochai Benkler.  I also learned that in evaluating sources it is helpful to know that the person who you are using to cite your source has taught or published information on your topic, this shows that person actually knows what he is talking about and he can be trusted.

One thing on evaluation I am still uncertain about is how to truly ensure that the source I am evaluating is trustworthy.

Three things I learned today about reseach include the neccesity to research the author of a source, using search sites or databases, such a Google, Google Scholar or Web of Science. I also learned that most well known authors usually have their own website or a website created by where they work. These websites are very helpful because they offer alot of information including what this person’s interest, his profession, his resume also known as curriculum vita, and basically a general overview of his achievements. I learned that I can use Web of Science to figure out how many times an article by a certain author has been cited, which will help me figure out the popularity of his works and how trustworthy they are.

Something I am still unsure about is whether it is still ok to use a source that you like even if you cant find much information about its author.

1. I think that one of the three important things I learned today in class was how to utilize another database to help me with future research. I think that Web of Science is a great database to use if I want to find other articles that might pertain to a subject that I am researching in. Another important thing is that this helps narrow down my searches significantly by placing all the articles that have cited the original article which I was looking for. This was a common technique that I used when I had my Social Science Research class and having a database that compiles all the cited works helps even more with my research. The last thing that I learned today is how Google Scholar’s cited list isn’t always completely accurate and this was because I was never exposed to the Web of Science database before so I had no other tool to find other citations with but now that I do, I’ll probably use Google Scholar a lot less.

2. I don’t think there’s anything that I’m really uncertain about when dealing with evaluating sources but I think that sometimes, even if you don’t have a degree in a certain subject area, your thoughts and ideas can be as highly valued as the person who does. Although I do understand that sometimes it’s better to trust sources who do have degrees in the area, I just don’t think they should be valued any less.

Today, I learned that when researching sources, it is also important to look at the author of the source.  Looking at the author’s background can provide a new perspective to inspect and use the source because we can see the author’s relationship to the information he is giving us. We not only look at the credibility of a source in the process of picking our sources, we also look at the people who created them.  The credibility of a scholarly source lies in the accuracy and truthfulness of the content, and the connection that the author has with the content.  The author should have a strong connection to the publications that he creates because as an expert in that specific field of information, he is more knowledgeable and experienced. A source written by an expert who has study and practiced in the field would be better than a source written by the common person who only has common sense, general knowledge, of the field.

In evaluation of sources, I am still uncertain about whether the popularity of the source would have anything to do with its credibility. I don’t think it would be a huge factor in my choice of sources, because it improves on the source’s content itself, but I wonder if the number of times that it is cited is a reflection of how truthful it may seem.

1. I learned how to access to new database , web science. And how to get publication in more efficient ways. Through out this class, I realized author’s information and publication are important in evaluation process.

2. I’m still unclear about narrowing down the sources that  I found. It’s hard to decide what information to use to support my topic.

Three Things Learned:

• How to use the Web of Science database.
• How to check how much an author is cited.
• How to use “Find It” button.

Unsure about:

• Why Google Scholar’s works cited count is inaccurate and if there’s a way to get a true estimate using it.