SEARCH, EVALUATE,CITE

Benton Library Media CenterCreated by Melissa Corey

How to Research Anything. . . Plus CRAP Detection

Monday, October 11, 2010

FOLLOW ALONGbentonlibrary.org -> LibGuides -> Social Studies LibGuides

Monday, October 11, 2010

Images: “MacBook light shift” by goobimama via Flickr, CC-licensed

“Goed Zoekveld” by Bart van Biezen via Flickr, CC-licensed

RESEARCH IS SIMPLE . . . RIGHT?

SEARCH

EVALUATE

CITE“Closeup of an opened dictionary” by zehfernando via Flickr, CC-licensed

Monday, October 11, 2010

SEARCH OPTIONS

POWERSEARCH

SWEETSEARCH

Search all of the library’sdatabases . . . at once.

Like Google, but better. Pre-screened, accurate links.

WORLD HISTORYA database focused exclusively on

history and social studies

Monday, October 11, 2010

NOT SURE WHAT TO SEARCH?http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/nashhistory

Monday, October 11, 2010

EVALUATE THE C.R.A.P.

CURRENCY

RELIABILITY

AUTHORITY

PURPOSE

Images: “TP” by bathroomdiva via Flickr under a CC-license.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Is the information up-to-date?

Can you tell when the information was published?

Does the website present new information?

Images: “#1 New MacBook” by Mikael Miettinen via Flickr under a CC-license.“2009-07-09 What Day Is It?” by RG of CS-taking a bit of a break via Flickr under a CC-license.

CURRENCY

Monday, October 11, 2010

Is the information backed by sources?

Is the information verifiable elsewhere?

Is the information relevant to your topic?

Images: “IT everywhere #31” by Paul the Wine Guy via Flickr under a CC-license.“Smack in the middle” by ogimogi via Flickr under a CC-license.

RELIABILITY

Monday, October 11, 2010

Is the website backed by experts?

Is there an organizationbacking the website?

Can you determine the authors of the website?

Image: “Man vs. Power” by theqspeaks via Flickr under a CC-license.

AUTHORITY

Monday, October 11, 2010

Is the information presented objectively (when needed)?

Is there a clear bias for a single viewpoint?

“Load or unload” by Pulpolux !!! via Flickr under a CC-license.

Is the website commerical or non-commercial?

PURPOSE

Image: “dot com” by Thomas Hawk via Flickr under a CC-license.

Monday, October 11, 2010

TRY IT YOURSELF

Do a Google search and evaluate the CRAP

CURRENCYRELIABILITY

AUTHORITY

PURPOSE

Monday, October 11, 2010

AVOID PLAGIARISM

Monday, October 11, 2010

AVOID PLAGIARISM

don’t copy & paste

Monday, October 11, 2010

AVOID PLAGIARISM

don’t copy & paste

put it your own wordsMonday, October 11, 2010

AVOID PLAGIARISM

don’t copy & paste

put it your own wordscite your sources

Monday, October 11, 2010

AVOID PLAGIARISM

don’t copy & paste

put it your own wordscite your sources

quote large chunks of text

Monday, October 11, 2010

CITING YOUR SOURCESbentonlibrary.org

Monday, October 11, 2010