Searching & Evaluating Resources

Rhetoric 1302Carol Oshel

Reference Librarian972-883-2627

carol.oshel@utdallas.edu

Internet / the Web

Contains text, images, sound and video

Numerous hits with many duplicates Anyone can publish pages on the web Unregulated source of information

Searching the Web

Government information and websites Associations and Organizations Current news Background info / preliminary research

Always search the web with a critical eye

Electronic Databases or Indexes

Index journal articles, books, newspaper articles, dissertation etc.

Cover a variety of topics – some subject specific (e.g. ERIC – education)

Some are full text When you are looking for articles on a topic start here

Searching Periodical Databases

Need to research articles, especially scholarly

Greater concern for authoritative sources

More powerful “advanced” searching

Need newspaper or journal archives/backfiles

Popular Magazineor

Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journal

Tutorial at:

http://www.utdallas.edu/%7Ecxo025000/scholarlyjournalsfirstpage.htm

Selecting Your Database

Choose by subject Or from the alphabetical list

(descriptions given for individual databases)

Ask a Reference Librarian

Developing a Search Strategy

Select a topic Identify keywords Identify synonyms Group concepts and add

connectors (Boolean) Use truncation and/or wildcard

keys if available

Selecting a Topic and Determining Keywords

After deciding on a topic, (Define/Evaluate yourself – culturally, as a leader, racially, etc) write down the topic in the form of a sentence or question.

Is there a typical middle-aged, first-born, female, Anglo-Saxon? Yes, you’re looking at one.

Look at your question and pull out the most important words.

Identifying Synonyms(Use a thesaurus)

Take your keywords and find other words that also describe your topic. Also write down narrower and broader terms to help refine your search.

First-born – birth order, sibling rivalry Female – sex, gender English - English, race, national

heritage, nationalism Discrimination, qualities, characteristics,

englishness, culture, immigrant, personality

Group Concepts

Group concepts together by parentheses or quotation marks

“Anglo Saxon” or “english”

“first born” or “birth order” personality OR traits OR characteristics

Add connectors Connectors (Boolean)

AND-both terms must appear together in the record (narrows search)

OR-either term appears in the record (broadens search)

NOT-placed before term omits all records featuring this term in them (use NOT carefully – it may omit results that you had not intended)

Examples

(birth order OR first born) AND personality

Using Academic Search Premier

Using a Subject-Specific Database

Try english AND personality

In PsychInfo

Broaden or Narrow the Search

Try english AND national AND identity

Then try english national identity (as a phrase) in

Sociological Abstracts

Evaluating Sources (ABC’s)Crucial for Web

Searching!

Audience Authority Bias Currency Scope

Audience

What age group/education level/political affiliation/etc. is the audience?

Is this for a person with in-depth knowledge or a layperson?

Authority

Does the author’s name appear on the Web page?

What are his/her credentials? Does the author provide contact

information?

Bias

Is the source objective? Could the writer’s or the

organization’s affiliation put a different spin on the information presented?

What is the purpose of the source?

Currency

When was the work published? When was the work last updated? How old are the sources or items

in the bibliography? How current is the topic? If a Web page, do the links work?

Scope

What does/doesn’t the work cover?

Is it an in-depth study (many pages) or superficial (one page)?

Are sources and statistics cited? If a site, does it offer unique info

not found in any other source?

Choose Your Sources Wisely

No matter how much time and effort that you put into your paper, it will be only as good as the sources that you use

Choose a variety of sources (reference materials, journals, essays, books, statistics, documented research, letters)

Use magazines to add interest, emotion, humor, opinion, etc.

I think genetic testing should be done because then there wouldn’t be so many diseases.

Experts in the treatment of multiple sclerosis say more children are being diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease… (USA Today) . If you were the mother of one of these children, would you be for or against gene therapy, if gene therapy could cure your child?

(this is NOT academic research)

Citing your sources MLA, APA, Chicago Manual of Style,

and other citation manuals available at the Reference Desk.

Links from Other Useful Web Sites (Library Page)

Copies may be available in Main Stacks

Need help citing? The Writing Lab can help.

Other Library Services Telephone

Reference 972-883-2955

Monday – Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Friday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Sunday 1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

E-mail Reference “Ask A Librarian”

http://www.utdallas.edu/library/reference/erefform.htm

By appointment with a reference librarian

Contact Loreen Phillips loreen.phillips@utdallas

.edu Stop by the reference desk

and ask

Ask a UT System Librarian-Chat

Monday-Thurs. 12:00-6:00 pm; Friday 12:00-4:00 pm CST

http://www.lib.utsystem.edu/students/ask.html

CREDITS

The University of Texas at Dallas LibrariesAn Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University

P. O. Box 830643 Richardson, TX 75083-0643 972-883-2955

Original content created by Stephanie Isham & Matt Makowka.

Updated September 2005 by Carol OshelEdited by Susie Kutchi