1. Step 1: Finding a site

2. Google Advanced

3. Google Scholar
articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities
locate the complete document through your library or on the web

4. Cobb Mackinvia
Paid subscriptions for scholarly journals like…

5. Boolean Operators What are they? When to use? AND NOT OR
Google Advanced
Database (Galileo, Ebsco, etc.) searches

7. CTRL + F

8. No HOME page link? Truncate the URL
Delete characters in the address line up to the next slash mark to see if a main page offers more information about who is responsible for publishing the page you are interested in.
Go from:

9. URLs as clues to content
.com
commercial
.org
non-profit organization
.edu
educational institution
.gov
U.S. government
.ac
UK academic
.net
network

10. Vetting a Site

11. Who? credentials? education? experience? affiliation?
Does the author’s experience really qualify him or her as an expert?
Does he or she offer first-hand credibility? (For instance, a Vietnam veteran or a witness to Woodstock?)
Who actually published this page?
Is this a personal page or is it an endorsed part of a site belonging to a major institution? (Clues pointing to a personal page: ~ tilde, %, users, members)

12. What?
Can facts, statistics, or other information be verified through other sources?
Based on your knowledge, does the information seem accurate? Is the information inconsistent with information you learned from other sources?
Is the information second hand? Has it been altered?
Do there appear to be errors on the page (spelling, grammar, facts)?

13. When? When was this information created? When was it last revised?
Are these dates meaningful in terms of your information needs?
Has the author of the page stopped maintaining it?
(Be suspicious of undated material.)

14. Where? Did the author bother to document his or her sources?
Were those references reliable and scholarly?
Are those sources real? Have you or your librarian heard of or been able to verify them?

15. Recognizing bias is important.
Why?
Does the source present a particular view or bias?
Is the page selling a product?
Was the information found in a paid placement or sponsored result from the search engine?
Information is seldom neutral.
Recognizing bias is important.

16. But what if I can’t
find any
author information?

17. Look for credibility clues!
Words and phrases to look for:
About us
Who Am I
FAQs
Company Information
Our Staff
This info is usually found on the HOME page
Clues often appear on the top or bottom of a page, or in menu bars and frames. These sections often contain authorship clues! 17

18. Still more credibility clues
If you have an author’s name but no further
information about credentials,
Search the name in quotation marks in a search engine or online database
On the Web, include words like profile, resume, or C.V. (curriculum vitae—an academic resume) to narrow your name search
the author (If you have no information other than an link, write a polite asking for more information.)

19. Publishing

20. Publishing

21. Publishing

22. Publishing

23. Detecting Bias
Diction
What is included
What is excluded
Images

24. Original Records from the event
Primary v. Secondary
Original Records from the event
After the Fact
Photograph
Video
Eyewitness testimony
Textbook
Report by someone NOT there

25. Plagiarism
Taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as your own
Consequences
AHS: Zero and office referral
College: Expulsion
Career: Lawsuit
How to Avoid: Cite your sources!

26. Are there any times I DON’T need to cite?
Info is so general it’s common knowledge. Nobody would need to look it up:
George Washington was the first US President.
The Earth revolves around the sun.
When the idea is your own

27. How to Cite Your Sources and Avoid Plagiarism
Step 1: Create a Works Cited or Bibliography page
Step 2: Create in-text citations (aka parenthetical citations)

28. Step 1: Create a Works Cited or Bibliography page
Works Cited page = the last page of a research paper that lists all the sources you mentioned in the paper
Bibliography = the last page of a research paper that lists all the sources you used in your research - even those you didn’t mention in the paper
Either way, you must list the information about the source in MLA format

29. Step 2: Create in-text citations
Author’s last name and page number(s)
of quote/paraphrase must appear in the
text
Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).

30. Citing Quote with No Author
If no author is identified, use the title of the source—be sure to include proper punctuation. High school students admit they even feel the pressure to swear in some peer groups in order to “not get dissed” (“Profane Pressure”).

31. MLA MLA = Modern Language Association
Citation = information about the source in “Code” form
Which is quicker?
This book was written by Joe Jones in The name of the book is Being Cool, and it was published by Kickin’ Publishing which is located is Atlanta.
Jones, Joe. Being Cool. Atlanta: Kickin’ Publishing, Inc., 2012.

32. Answer: ALL of them Which to cite? Quote Word for word Paraphrase
Reword but same length
Summarize
Reword and shorten
Answer: ALL of them

33. What about Wikipedia? Who can edit and create articles?
Who can edit and create articles?
In order for articles to remain, they must
Cite _____________
Present material _______ and without ________
But who checks up on the articles?

34. Let’s review:
BEFORE you start perusing a website for information, what should you do?
Besides his/her name, what do you need to know about the author of a website?
If the author’s name is not the page at which you are looking, what should you do?