Finding & Evaluating Sources

While a firehose of information is available on the internet, simply googling will probably result in too many sources with not enough credibility. To help narrow down potential research and find more credible sources, researchers should use databases like Google Scholar or Kiefer Library's many databases. You can also visit the Kiefer Library, located in the Learning Commons, and talk to a librarian for more help.

Using the Aims Kiefer Libary

Effective Internet Searches

Search specific types of sites

You can limit your Google search to look only for sites that end with specific extensions (such as .gov or .edu). To do this, enter site: followed by the site extension (no space) and your search terms.

Search a specific site

You can use Google to search a specific website. For example, if you remember reading a specific story in the Denver Post, but can’t remember when the story was published or what it was called, you can enter site: denverpost followed by your search terms.

Exclude terms

If you are searching for information about medieval Vikings and don’t want to be inundated with information about the Minnesota Vikings team, enter Vikings –Minnesota to prevent results from Minnesota Viking football-related sites.

Evaluating Sources

It is important to make sure that sources are credible, accurate, and current before incorporating them into an essay. Using academic databases is a good start, but it's still up to you, as the writer, to make sure the source is credible before using it in an essay.

C.R.A.A.P. source evaluation questions:

CURRENCY: How current is it? Generally, the more current, the better. Try to stay within 10 years of today.
RELEVANCE: Is the source comprehensive and relevant? Does it offer lots of information on the subject?
AUTHORITY: Who is behind this source? Is the author or organization well known and considered an expert in the field?
ACCURACY: Has the information been reviewed by other professionals in the field? Do the same type of facts seem to show up in other sources?
PURPOSE: Is there a financial incentive for the source? Is there a bias behind the information? Does it seem emotionally written? Are the arguments one-sided? These are all red flags!

The CRAAP Test is one way to evaluate a source, but there are others. For another example, check out Charleston Southern University's Hierarchy of Credibility.

Are URLs the Key?

URLs don't mean as much as they used to. URLs that end in .gov (government), .edu (education), and .mil (military) are mostly considered credible. However, always check your source! For example, student newspapers end in .edu. Are students experts and therefore an authoritative source on your topic?

Probably not.

.org sites can be informative, but sometimes they are biased. For example, the American College of Pediatrics organization masquerades as a professional health association, but is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Either way, most .org sites present information from other sites, so they are secondary sources rather than primary sources. It's best to track down the original source for the information and evaluate it there if you can.

.com (commercial) sites are everywhere! Very credible newspapers, magazines, and journals use .com. Also, if you build a website out of your basement to host your podcast about lizard people controlling our minds, you, too, can use .com! Essentially, you can't tell anything from this URL. This also applies to .net (network) URLs.

The Takeaway? URLs aren't the best way to tell if a site is credible (and avoid lizard people podcasts).

Here is an infographic with more information on source evaluation:

Finding & Evaluating Sources

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Finding Sources