Research Advice

Finding credible information on the internet can be frustrating and time-consuming. Here is some advice on how to have more success:

Use databases provided by The Digital Maine Library or by subscription to the library before searching the internet. These databases provide reference book information, magazine articles, peer-reviewed journal articles, newspaper articles, primary documents, and multimedia information such as photographs, videos, and audio clips. Home use of MARVEL is available by free registration.

Use IPL (Internet Public Library), an online directory of websites edited by librarians, to search for broader topics. This will provide you with a few websites that are chosen by librarians to be websites that are accurate, current, unbiased and well-organized.

When using Google or other search engines, combine keywords that describe what you want to get more focused results. Use "quotation marks" to indicate that you are looking for a specific phrase or name with those exact words. To get results from specific websites or domains use "site:" in your search box with your search terms (for example [Mexico site: national geographic] or [Mexico site: .gov])

For additional advice:

How to Search Google (https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en&ref_topic=3081620&vid=1-635784501420751837-2722110579) or 

Online Research Tools and Investigative Techniques (http://gijn.org/2015/05/05/online-research-tools-and-investigation-techniques/)

Gather and read information from a variety of resources when you are doing research and consider expertise and bias.

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