Page 262 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

reflection on the research they have done. To be included in scholarly or professional journals, articles must
be reviewed by people in that field. This process is called peer review. If you read an article in a scientific
journal, it has been reviewed and accepted by other scientists. You can use the information with confidence.
Later in this chapter, we will look at how you can assess the quality of sources you find on the Internet.

Your instructor may have a preference for primary or secondary sources, or a combination of both, for your
assignment. This will depend on your topic and your research question. In the case study for Activity 10.2,
notice which students are doing primary and which are doing secondary research. What are the benefits
and drawbacks of both?

Evaluating the Quality of Internet Sources

When faced with any kind of task for the first time, many of us look for the easiest way to start. Sometimes,
this is logical, and sometimes not. Sometimes what seems to be the easy way is really the hard, or at least
less efficient way. A case in point is researching. Many people, including students, start with a known site,
like Wikipedia® or Google™. Although there is nothing wrong in starting out this way, be advised that most
instructors will not accept a Wikipedia entry as a valid source. Because anyone can post information on
Wikipedia, using its information is a gamble: The information may be correct, but it may not be. If you do
use Wikipedia, look at the sources given for your particular article. They might lead you in a more promising
direction. Google™ is another popular site that may—or may not—lead you in the right direction. When
you get a list of sources from Google™, be aware that those sites have paid money to be listed first, second,
etc. You may find a gem in such a list, but you may have to search through a lot of rubbish first. And as we
discussed earlier, you may be pressed for time. A subscription database is an evaluative Internet resource
site that your college has paid money to use. In other words, more gems, less rubbish. Using a subscription
database, like Infomine, for example, is #4 on the preceding “Top Ten” list for very good reasons.

Dissecting an Internet Source

All Internet sources are not created equal. You are already aware that some sites are more useful than others,
but what about credibility? Do you have a handle on how to tell whether web site content is more or less
likely to be credible, without checking all the information? The good news is that there are some fairly
reliable indicators of credibility. None of them are perfect and even the most professional-looking site can
be fake. Have you ever received e-mail that looked like it was from a bank? Phishing scams are attempts
to fool you into thinking that you’re dealing with a credible and real web site, to trick you into disclosing
information such as your social security number or banking account number. Those who run these scams
are very adept at creating web sites that appear to be credible, at least on the surface.

Verifying Internet sources and determining their credibility is your responsibility, both as a student researcher
and as a consumer. In order to become adept at this, there’s some background information you need to
know. When you know what to look for, you will be able to evaluate a web site that much more quickly,
and not waste time (or share sensitive information) on sites that are not credible.

In order to dissect a web site, let’s use the following URL as an example:

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html

URL This is short for Uniform Resource Locator and is typically called the “site address” or just

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