This week in class we talked about being able to use different search engines depending on what type of topic we were trying to cover. There were several different places that we could go on CAT in order to find the correct source that we need. Bonnie stressed the importance of being able to pick the correct search engine; for example if your topic was health you would need to figure out what kind of health, or in what branch of health it is because there were several different databases that dealt with specific topics in the larger topic of health. Also, this would not just be health but many other subjects as well. She also talked about how we can use different sources in a paper i.e. she said she would love for a student to use a YouTube video in order to help back up their topic as long as it was reliable and scholarly. On that note, Amanda talked to us on Thursday about how to tell the difference between good sources and bad sources. The most that I took away from this is that the only sources that are actually good to use are academic journals, scholarly literature that can be proved is true, or websites that you, the researcher, must deem credible based on its attributes, such as the URL, the group who made the website, the author etc. The way that you can tell a website is reliable is if there is a recognizable name or association that is publishing it; for example any website by Mayo Clinic would be appropriate to use because it is known worldwide and is a reliable source. Another thing to specifically look at is the author, if there is no author, then that source shouldn’t be used (which I never knew!). When I was in high school they said if we could not find an author then use the publisher. Also something that I was taught previously is not to use material that is too old, especially in science, like Amanda said. This is great advice because the world is changing so much and old information might not be as useful. One question I do have though is if you can’t think of a search engine or database and you need one, is it okay to Google for them?
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Week 2
This week in class we talked about being able to use different search engines depending on what type of topic we were trying to cover. There were several different places that we could go on CAT in order to find the correct source that we need. Bonnie stressed the importance of being able to pick the correct search engine; for example if your topic was health you would need to figure out what kind of health, or in what branch of health it is because there were several different databases that dealt with specific topics in the larger topic of health. Also, this would not just be health but many other subjects as well. She also talked about how we can use different sources in a paper i.e. she said she would love for a student to use a YouTube video in order to help back up their topic as long as it was reliable and scholarly. On that note, Amanda talked to us on Thursday about how to tell the difference between good sources and bad sources. The most that I took away from this is that the only sources that are actually good to use are academic journals, scholarly literature that can be proved is true, or websites that you, the researcher, must deem credible based on its attributes, such as the URL, the group who made the website, the author etc. The way that you can tell a website is reliable is if there is a recognizable name or association that is publishing it; for example any website by Mayo Clinic would be appropriate to use because it is known worldwide and is a reliable source. Another thing to specifically look at is the author, if there is no author, then that source shouldn’t be used (which I never knew!). When I was in high school they said if we could not find an author then use the publisher. Also something that I was taught previously is not to use material that is too old, especially in science, like Amanda said. This is great advice because the world is changing so much and old information might not be as useful. One question I do have though is if you can’t think of a search engine or database and you need one, is it okay to Google for them?
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I remember her talking about the different search engines and I thought that was cool because that just provides a endless number of sources, so we would never be able to say we couldnt find any sources.But if we couldn't find any sources that would just be a very strong indication that we need to switch topics, rephrase it, or make it a little broader.
ReplyDeleteI think you provided a nice summary of what we learned this week. I believe that it is okay to use Google when you're researching as long as the source is reliable. This means that the website is legitimate and there is an author and date published being presented. However, I agree with Tianna that if you cannot find much information on a topic, you need to switch or expand it.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very well-written overview of the lessons we learned this past week. I'm glad that she said using a Youtube video or something such as that would be acceptable because I am currently doing that for one of my English assignments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd think Google is acceptable to use as long as the websites you choose in the search results are reliable according to what we learned in class.