Locating Information Sources, Reliable
Sources, Plagiarism, Using Search
Directories, and Internet Searching
Strategies
 Primary
and Secondary Sources
 Evaluating reliability of web resources
 Why Wikipedia is not a reliable source
 How you SHOULD use Wikipedia
 Image and video use = copyright and
citation
 After
the event
 Scholars who did not directly participate
in the event
 Collective research (facts)
 Published to inform
Examples: Encyclopedias, non fiction books,
reference books, most websites, magazines, news
papers, etc.
Secondary Source Sample


Original records
At the time historical events occurred
Examples:
 Memoirs, journals, diaries, letters, blogs
• Written by people who witnessed or experienced the event first hand

Opinion pieces
• editorials in newspapers, speeches



Interviews
Government documents - Congress or the Office of the
President
Photographs, audio recordings, documentaries, video
recordings, data, artifacts (art, buildings, tools, weapons)
Primary Source Example
Visit each of these sources and determine
if the source is Secondary or Primary.
 Source
#1
 Source #2
 Source #3
 Source #4
 Source #5
 Know
key words associated to your topic
 Try to use only nouns in your search field
 Use no more than three words in your search
field
 Use reputable search engines that rank your
results by reliability and popularity, I will require
you to use “Google”
 Narrow
your focus by
eliminating
unneeded sites
One partner uses Google to research the
topic. The other partner uses Google
Advanced Search to research the topic.
What differences do you notice in your
results?
 Topic:
• The melting polar ice caps are threatening the
existence of the Polar Bear.
One partner uses Google Advanced
Search and one partner uses Directory.
What differences do you notice? What
advantages does Google Directory offer?
 Topic: Polar
Ice Caps Melting






Who?
• Authority: Who is posting the information?
What?
• Content: Fact or Opinion/ Bias or Unbiased
Where?
• Hosting Sponsors: Universities, Governments, News
Agencies
When?
• Current Information
Why?
• Purpose (persuasion or information)
How?
• Design and Aesthetics
Go to each site and evaluate its reliability.
 Resource 1
 Resource 2
 Resource 3
 Resource 4
 Resource 5
 Resource 6
 Resource 7
 Rephrase
 Your
own words
 Your own vocabulary (it should sound like you)
 When direct quotation is needed:
• be sure to use quotation marks
 Some
vocabulary words are scientific/specific
and cannot be rephrased – this is okay
 When you do not paraphrase you are
plagiarizing
“To minimize the impact of coal use, any new
coal power plants must use state-of-the-art
pollution controls, including capturing carbon
dioxide for safe disposal and maximizing
control of other pollutants such as mercury and
soot. Any mining that occurs must address local
residents' concerns about health, water quality
and damage to local landscapes -- and
mountaintop removal should be prohibited. We
owe it to our children and grandchildren to
limit the damage caused by coal use.”
(http://www.nrdc.org/coal/19c_advancedcoal.asp)
How can the impacts of coal use on the
environment be controlled? Use state-ofthe-art pollution controls such as capturing
carbon dioxide, safely disposing of CO2,
and controlling all other pollutants such as
mercury and soot. When mining coal, be
sure to have ways to manage water quality,
the health of miners, and land protection.
There should be no mountaintop clearing.
ORIGINAL
“To minimize the impact of coal use, any
new coal power plants must use stateof-the-art pollution controls, including
capturing carbon dioxide for safe
disposal and maximizing control of
other pollutants such as mercury and
soot. Any mining that occurs must
address local residents' concerns
about health, water quality and
damage to local landscapes -- and
mountaintop removal should be
prohibited. We owe it to our children
and grandchildren to limit the
damage caused by coal use.”
PARAPHRASE
How can the impacts of coal use on the
environment be controlled? Use
state-of-the-art pollution controls such
as capturing carbon dioxide, safely
disposing of CO2, and controlling all
other pollutants such as mercury and
soot. When mining coal, be sure to
have ways to manage water quality,
the health of miners, and land
protection. There should be no
mountaintop clearing.
“Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a
crude log cabin near present-day Hodgenville,
Kentucky. His parents, who already had a little daughter
named Sarah, were hardworking, uneducated pioneers.
They probably saw nothing unusual about their son,
except that he grew unusually fast. Thomas Lincoln,
Abraham's father, was a man of ordinary abilities. His
ambition apparently did not extend beyond owning a
good farm. Of Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks
Lincoln, little is known. She and her two small children
experienced the usual hardships and few pleasures of
pioneer life.”
Fehrenbacher, Don E. "Lincoln, Abraham." Reviewed by Gabor S. Boritt. The New Book of
Knowledge®. 2009. Grolier Online. 5 Jan. 2009 <http://nbk.grolier.com/cgibin/article?assetid=a2017280-h>.
 What is plagiarism?
• Copying directly from the source – word for
word and not using quotations and a citation to
document source and signify word for word
copying
• Using vocabulary that does not match your style
or education level
• Taking someone else’s work or ideas and
claiming them as your own
 Plagiarism
= failing grade
Requirements for School Projects
 Usage
rights come into play if you're
looking for content that you can take and
use above and beyond fair use.
 Site owners can use licenses to indicate if
and how content on their sites can be
reused.
(from http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=29508)
A
doctrine in United States copyright law
that allows limited use of copyrighted
material without requiring permission
from the rights holders, such as for
commentary, criticism, news reporting,
research, teaching or scholarship.
(from http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=29508)
 Just
like your research, all images must
come from sites that are…
• Reliable research based/non biased
• Reputable institutions of information
• Give credit where credit is due
 Image title
 Image author/creator
This image has a
copyright - and if you
read the copyright it
states – “can be used
for educational
purposes...”
(click on the image)
As you can see it
occurs everywhere which would lead me
to believe that it does
not have a license.
Next step is to make
sure you obtain it
from a secure,
reliable source.
Comes from a reliable
source (created for
student research) and
offers Image credit
information.
(click on the image)
Image above: The greenhouse
effect is a warming of the air
around us. Earth's atmosphere
traps heat. This heat warms the
land and the air around it.
Credit: World Book illustration
by Lawrie Taylor
 Labeled
for reuse (PICK THIS ONE
FOR YOUR RESEARCH)
Your results will only include images
labeled with a license that allows you to
copy and/or modify the image in ways
specified in the license.
 Wikipedia
Commons
 CCMMS’s Media Center
 Which
link do you
use?
• Don’t use the Google
search link!
• You have to go to the
original source!
Example: “Polar Bear”
(click on image)
 How
do you cite?
(click on image)
Jack, Emily. French and Indian War Cherokee . 2007. University of North
Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Learn NC. Web. 28 Sep. 2010.
<http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2007/10/img_1787.jpg>.
 Destiny
 NC Wise
Owl
 Source Requirements
 Using
NCWiseOwl for periodical
searching
Destiny and Destiny
WebQuest
3
Secondary
• 1 book
• 1 periodical
• 1 web source
1
Primary