This document provides guidance on evaluating electronic information sources for research. It discusses formulating a research question and where to find answers, such as books, academic journals, newspapers, magazines and the internet. It outlines criteria for evaluating sources, such as checking the author and publisher, assessing the purpose and reliability of the information. It also discusses using search techniques like Boolean operators and quotation marks to refine searches. Domain name extensions like .edu and .gov are explained to determine the type of website. Steps of the research process, including developing search strategies and assessing source quality, are also outlined.

1. A Primer on Finding, Evaluating, and
Utilizing Electronic Information

2.  Upon completion of this
lesson, you will be able to:
◦ Use technology and
information resources to
BETTER research issues
related to an essay topic

3.  Technology has
changed things
 Research process
◦ Formulate a research
question
◦ Where to go for
answers

4.  Background check
◦ Author
◦ Publisher
 Purpose of writing
◦ Balanced approach or shock value
 How current is information?
◦ Theories are always changing
 Reputation
◦ Validation

5.  Books
◦ Library
 Academic journals
◦ Well researched
 Newspapers
◦ Point-in-time
 Magazines
◦ Various topics
 Internet
◦ Check reliability

7. • Author or contact person - usually located at the
bottom of the page
• Institution - usually a logo or link located in either
header or footer
• Date of creation or revision - usually at the bottom of
the page
• Intended audience - determined by examining the
content
• Purpose of the information - determined by examining
the content

8.  org :An advocacy web site, such as a not-for-profit
organization.
 .com : A business or commercial site.
 .net:A site from a network organization or an
Internet service provider.;
 .edu :A site affiliated with a higher education
institution.
 .gov: A federal government site.
 .il.us :A state government site, this may also
include public schools and community colleges.
 .uk (United Kingdom) : A site originating in another
country (as indicated by the 2 letter code).

11. •Identify your information need: What is your research question?
What is the scope of your assignment?Identify
•Recognize the differences between information sources in terms of
scope, accuracy, and authority. What resource or types of resources
will help you meet your information needs?
Recognize
•Develop a search strategy to fulfill your information need. Which
techniques, terms, and topologies will help you discover the best
resources?
Develop
•Utilize resources effectively, ethically and legally. How do you use
the resources available to you? How do you give proper credit to the
sources you cite?
Utilize
•Assess the value, quality, and integrity of information. Can you tell
if the source is trustworthy, well-supported, and current?Assess
•Incorporate new information into an existing knowledge or value
base. How does the source contribute to your understanding of a
topic or field? How might it influence further research?
Incorporate

12.  http://www.lirn.net/guide/

28.  OneNote will take and
organize screen shots of
almost anything!

29.  Use the above command to take “screen
shots”

30.  If this program is “active”
on your PC it can be
opened here.

33. OneNote
automatically
runs OCR on
any inserted
images. How
cool is that!

37. AND will retrieve results in which both items are
present. Example: elephants AND lions
OR will retrieve results in which at least one of the
search terms is present. Very useful for synonyms
or related words. Example: elephants OR lions
chain big box
NOT excludes results that contain the second term.
Example: elephants NOT lions
religion
Roman

38.  NEAR retrieves documents with the search terms appearing
within a specified number of words of each other. The exact
number of words will vary from one database or search
engine to another; in some, you can specify the proximity by
a certain number of words.

39. chain big box
religion
Roman

40. Quotation marks tell a database to look for an exact
phrase, rather than separate words.
Example: A search for the words „public‟ and „policy‟ will
retrieve any article that contains those two words, even if
„public‟ is on the first page, and „policy‟ is on page 18.
Searching for “public policy” will return only articles that
use that exact phrase.
These basic search strategies can be used in library catalogs and
databases and also search engines such as Google

50.  http://support.ebsco.com/training/tutorials.
php

55.  Searching online databases
 Selecting resources
 Using the library and learning
resource center