Take a look at the links below for more information on evaluating sources.
1. What is in this database?
a) What subject areas are covered?
b) What types of materials are included?
2. How does it search?
a) Phrase versus Word searching. Determine whether the database considers multiple words as a single phrase or a combination of words connected by OR (any of the words), or AND (all of the words). Or does it use another method?
b) Most databases allow you to search on a truncated (abbreviated) form of a word plus a wildcard (example: engineer* retrieves engineer, engineers, engineered, engineering). What is the truncation sign is in the database? (Common truncation signs are #, *, ?, !, and $).
c) Some databases offer the option of searching by controlled vocabulary (subject) terms. These are authorized terms used to describe topics in the database and are frequently collected in a thesaurus. Does the database have a thesaurus to determine the best controlled-vocabulary terms to use for your search?
3. What did you like about the database?
4. What didn’t you like about the database?
Information comes in many different formats: journal articles, government documents, technical reports, etc. Here is a brief breakdown of the various categories; keep these points in mind when choosing resources for your paper.
The flow of information is a conceptual timeline of how information is created, disseminated, and found. Information is dispersed through a variety of channels. Depending on the type of information, the time it takes to reach its audience could range from seconds to minutes, days to weeks, or months to years. Knowing how information flows helps you understand what types of information you need and how to search and obtain the targeted information.
Report of Experiment or Phenomena | Time Frame | Review Process | Where to Look | Written by | Audience |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
News (Internet / TV / Radio Services / Newspapers) | Seconds/Minutes | No formal peer-review process | Websites TV news newspapers |
Journalists | General public |
Magazines (print and online) | Days / Weeks | No formal peer-review process | Article Databases Library catalog |
Professional journalists, science writers | General public to knowledgeable layperson |
Conference Proceedings | Presented immediately, sometimes published 1-2 years later | Possible peer-review |
Article Databases |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs, graduate students, post-docs | Scholars, specialists, and grad students |
Journal articles (print and electronic) |
Average 3-9 months | Formal peer-review process | Library catalog Article databases Journal website Google Scholar |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs, graduate students, post-docs | Scholars, specialists, and students |
Review articles | Average 1-2 years | Formal peer-review process |
Article databases |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs, graduate students, post-docs | Scholars, specialists, and students |
Technical Reports and Government Documents | Months to years | No formal peer-review process |
Technical report databases |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs, graduate students, post-docs | Audience varies depending on document or report |
Books, E-books | Average 1-3 years | Editorial process, not peer-review |
Library catalog |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs | General public to specialists |
Reference Sources, Encyclopedias | Average 10 years | Editorial process, not peer-review |
Library catalog |
Specialists in the field, usually scientists or engineers with PhDs | General public to specialists |
Websites and Blogs | Seconds/minutes to years | none | Web search tools | Anyone | General public to Specialists |
Free online visualization tools to help broaden/narrow your topic, come up with new and related key words.
This short video gives you tips on skimming a set of scientific articles to find the ones you really want to read!