There are many places you can go, both physically and virtually, to look for information. Depending on your information need, some sources might be more appropriate than others. When selecting an information source, consider the following questions:

What types of materials can I find here? Do they meet my research need?

Let’s consider some common sources of information and the tools used to search them.

The World Wide Web

When you have an information need, your first inclination might be to go to a familiar search engine, namely Google, to search the World Wide Web. The Web is a great resource for finding a quick answer to a question, gathering background information, or exploring your interests and curiosities. Publication online is immediate so you can find extremely current information here. Undoubtedly, Google is a powerful tool that serves as a gateway to an expansive world of information.

Attempting to perform an in-depth search of the entire World Wide Web, however, presents challenges. The Web is a rapidly growing information source that is not organized or regulated. In addition, because anyone can publish online, any materials found here need to be evaluated carefully.

What information are you searching with Google? Google searches materials that are published on the World Web Web. Search results typically include a wide variety of fully accessible resources, such as websites, forums, social networking sites, videos, images and blogs.

What research task is this information source good for? Google is generally a good resource for quick facts, current news, or an initial investigation of a topic.

LOOKING MORE CLOSELY

Though the Web is not formally organized, Google has tools that allow you to search smaller, more focused collections of information. You might try searching Google News to find information about the most recent events surrounding a topic or Google Scholar to search for peer-reviewed articles (Be cautious, however, as you may be required to pay for access to some of these articles). The more you can focus your search, the less irrelevant information you will have to sift through.

Let’s look even closer at the structure of a web URL. Have you ever thought about what those last three letters in a web address stand for? They refer to the top-level domain (TLD), which can give you clues about the type of organization that hosts the website. Hover over the common domain suffixes below to see what they stand for and click the link to see an example.

When searching for information, think about what kind of domain might be appropriate for your research task. Keep in mind that there are monetary incentives behind every commercial website, so the information provided is often intended to sell you a product or idea. An education or government-hosted website, however, is generally published for educational or informative purposes.

A FINAL NOTE ON ONLINE RESOURCES

More often than not, when conducting an online search, Wikipedia is at the top of the results page. While user-edited wikis (About.com and WikiHow are other examples) can be useful for providing a concise introduction to a topic, these sites should not be relied on as academic sources for a research paper, as anyone can edit them at any time. Wikipedia can be a helpful starting point, but for reliable scholarly materials your best resource is your college library.

Library Catalogs

Before the advent of the Internet, libraries were the original information resource, a designated institution where people could go to find information. Unlike the Web, materials found in a library are carefully selected and organized. These materials might include books, newspapers, journals, magazines, CDs and DVDs, maps and government documents.

Most modern libraries now have online catalogs, which are used to list and describe all of the materials that the library owns or has access to. While the catalog is useful for locating items in the library’s collection, you cannot use it to search within those materials (e.g. a chapter in a book).

Since materials in the library have to go through a publication process, information found here will likely be thorough, but not always completely up to date. You would not be able to find a book about a law that was passed today, for example, because it hasn’t been published yet.

What information are you searching with the library catalog? The catalog searches records of physical items that are held by the library. Search results are descriptions of items such as books, magazines, journals, newspapers and audiovisual materials that you can retrieve at the library.

What research task is this information source appropriate for? When you are first getting started with your research it can be very useful to gather background information on your topic, especially if it’s a topic that is unfamiliar to you. While journal articles tend to focus on a specific aspect of a topic, books tend to provide a more thorough overview and can be a great resource for gaining a better overall understanding of your research topic.

LOOKING MORE CLOSELY

A search of the full catalog will show you what items are available at the library on your topic. However, depending on your information need, you may want to limit your search to a specific collection or format. If you are looking for quick facts or a concise overview of a topic, for example, you might try limiting your search to the reference collection, which includes encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks. Learn more about how to find books at the University at Albany Libraries by watching the tutorial below.

As you expand your search to include academic resources, make sure to take advantage of the services that are available to you. Librarians can assist you with finding the best resources for your search task. When you are starting your research, explore your library’s subject guides; these are resources that are designed by librarians to help you find information in a specific subject area or topic.

Now that you’ve learned about some search strategies, you have the opportunity to try applying them to your own research. Using a topic that you are researching for class, answer the following questions.

1. When searching on the Web, even a seemingly non-academic topic can be examined more deeply when approached from within a particular domain. You can search within a domain by typing site: after the search term.

2. Start by picking a topic that you are currently researching and enter it into Google. Looking at the first page of results, what is the most popular domain that you see? Is the intention behind these sites to educate you or to sell you something?

3. Now try entering the same term and adding site:gov. Compare the two searches. Which results do you think would be more useful when you are conducting research? Why?

4. Go to the University Libraries website (library.albany.edu) and find the library search tool. Search for your topic, and identify a relevant book or film for your research. Write down the title and call number, and explain the steps you took to find it.