The library provides quality information in many formats, including:
As a college student, you will quickly discover that when using periodicals for research, it is important to know the difference between scholarly and popular periodicals. Periodicals are publications that are published regularly. Scholarly periodicals are known as journals, while popular periodicals are called magazines. The sources of information that you use for the papers and presentations in your classes will be evaluated by your professors, so it is necessary to evaluate the authority of your sources before using them. Scholarly periodicals are considered scholarly, because their articles are written by experts. Most scholarly articles are then evaluated by other experts before they are published in a process called “peer-review.” Periodicals that require this process for articles are also called peer-reviewed journals. You will want to use scholarly periodicals as much as possible, because they are considered authoritative. If you are able to see the print copies of periodicals, it can be easy to distinguish between magazines and journals. Magazines usually have flashy covers and lots of advertisements inside, while journal covers are usually plain and contain few or no advertisements. If you find a periodical at a newsstand or in a grocery store, it is most likely a magazine. Journals are usually bought directly from the publisher. You should be aware that newspapers are also considered popular periodicals. If you find an article online, however, this distinction can be much trickier to make. Here are some things to look for in a scholarly article. First, you should look for credentials such as PhD or affiliation with a university after the author's name. The article should contain an abstract, which summarizes the main points of the article. Many times, there will be a short biography establishing the author's involvement with the subject and possibly listing the author's credentials. There will also be footnotes or a bibliography at the end of the article listing the author's sources of information. This allows the reader to consult and verify the material the author used. A scholarly article will also contain specialized vocabulary showing that the author has in-depth knowledge of the subject. The length of the article is useful to look at as well. Popular articles are usually brief - one to five pages, whereas scholarly articles are usually much longer. While doing research, you may come across trade or professional publications which are written for a very specific audience such as managers or administrators in business, finance, and industry. Articles found in these publications are sometimes written by experts, and other times are written by journalists. They're published quickly to alert people in a particular business of new trends or technology, so even though the author may be an expert, it is unlikely that articles have gone through a peer-review process. You should use these articles cautiously. Lastly, you should know that there are some gray areas when deciding if an article is scholarly or not, so if you have questions about whether you should use an article for a paper or project, you should consult your professor.
When deciding whether to use an article, it is helpful to identify three things:
1. Who is the Author?
2. Who is the intended Audience?
3. What is the article's Purpose?
See the following table for examples of how to evaluate different article types looking at the author, audience, and purpose for each one.
Source type | Source title | Sample article title & summary | Author | Audience | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Magazine |
National Geographic
|
"Eating Green" Discusses environmentally conscious eating choices. Consumers can choose organic options, purchase locally grown foods, and walk or bike to farmers markets to help reduce their carbon footprints. |
Journalist hired by magazine editor | General public - interested consumer | Edited articles offer an overview on a topic or current events. These general interest articles are for entertainment and to sell ads to make a profit. |
Trade journal |
Food Technology
|
"Is Local Better?" The author reports that eating local at the basic level makes sense because fewer food miles, or the distance food travels before it reaches the consumer, equal fewer emissions. |
Journalist hired by editor | Practitioners/professionals |
Editor and possibly an editorial board offer articles of interest to those working in that field; the purpose will be to offer advice and tips to those in the trade. Also includes some ads related to the profession. |
Scholarly journal |
Journal of Morphology
|
"Evidence for most and least fattening local eating: Customs from individuals' reports in their culture's terms" The least fattening patterns of behavior can be identified in a culture's own words. |
Researchers working in the field, often in teams and with university affiliations. |
Researchers/experts working in the field; students |
To share peer-reviewed research on a very specific aspects of a discipline using specialized vocabulary. Goes into lengthy detail. Often has charts and graphs. Always has citations/references; few or no ads. |
Try these to get more specific or broader results
Boolean Operators
Wild Card
Phrase Search
Adding a ~
Adding a -
When searching on the internet, it is important to evaluate the information you find before using it in your research.
SIFT is a series of steps to take when evaluating the reliability of web sites and their claims. It is based on an approach used by professional fact-checkers, and was developed by Mike Caulfield from Washington State University.
Each letter in SIFT stands for one of the steps:
When you see a web site that you are considering using or sharing, stop and ask yourself:
Don't use the source until you have found out more about its content, its creator, and its publisher.
Watch the video below, which highlights the importance of verifying your sources, and then proceed to the next step (Investigate).
The quality of your research is determined by the sources you use. Investigate a source by leaving that web page and looking for information about the source elsewhere. Check several different places before deciding if the source is reliable.
Watch the short video [2:44] below to learn about some of the best ways to investigate a source. Proceed to the next step: Find Better Coverage.
Oftentimes the source of information you come across is not important, even if the claim itself is. What that means is, we can try and find the information we're looking at in other sources. This helps to both verify whether the information is true and to find a better, or more trusted, source of coverage.
"Trusted coverage" can mean:
These can be determined through various online tools, such as the Media Bias Chart or the resources located in the Fact Checking Websites box on the Fake News -- Checking Sources page.
As you work through SIFT more, you can build up a list of trusted sources that can become your "go-to," saving you even more time in searching.
Many times the information we encounter is stripped of its context, which can distort its meaning. It's important to trace claims, quotes, and media back to their original source so that you can understand the context and ensure the information is being presented accurately.