NOT GETTING CAUGHT IN THE WEB:
CREDIBLE SOURCES ON THE WEB
Megan Lowe, Reference Librarian
Session Overview

Survey of Current Attitudes
 How


Do You Feel About Web + Research?
Evaluating Websites
A Selection of Credible Websites
 …and


how to find more!
Q&A
Feedback
 How
Do Feel About Web + Research NOW?
Survey of Attitudes - Before



Do you currently allow students to use Internet
resources in research assignments?
If no, why not?
If yes, are there any restrictions?
 As
in: no Wikipedia, no .coms, etc.?
 Do you already have a list of sites you permit?
 Do you have to approve Internet resources?
 Or can they use anything, as long as they document
correctly?

Do you use the Internet for research?
Students and the Internet
Most of us don’t trust students to use the Internet
because the students DON’T
 Recognize
the importance of authority
 Critically assess resources for scholarliness
 Understand the research process
 Realize the dangers inherent to the Internet
 Understand bias and the need for objectivity
 Comprehend the provenance of ideas and concepts
You and Your Students



I’m not going to tell you that you should let your
students use the Internet for research
I’m here to equip you with resources so you can
equip your students as you see fit
There are two ways to approach equipping your
students with regard to using the Internet for
research, if you are inclined to do so
Students and the Internet: Way #1


The method you use really depends on how much
confidence you have in your students – and that
might change semester to semester, or even class to
class in a given semester
If you have a group of students you have
confidence in, then one approach would be to let
them use the Internet, provided they carefully
evaluate the websites they encounter
Way #1: Evaluating Websites



There is a simplified list of criteria that students can
use to assess websites
These criteria are based on features inherent to
what we would recognize as scholarly resources
But they are generalized to account for the gray
areas that occur in resources on the Web, since
publishing on the Web isn’t regulated in a
meaningful way (beyond legally speaking)
Evaluating Websites: Criteria





Accuracy – is the information verifiable in other,
independent resources?
Authority – what are the credentials of the author(s)
or organization(s)?
Coverage – how in-depth is the resource? What is
its scope?
Currency – how old is the information itself? How
old is the resource?
Objectivity – is there an obvious bias involved?
Students and the Internet: Way #2



If you do not trust a group of students to effectively
evaluate websites, then it may be easier to simply
restrict them to certain resources
The next section of this presentation will cover
several sites where students can find scholarly
information
The sites either serve as portals to info or provide
info directly
Way #2: Portals to Info



Portals don’t produce the info themselves; they usually
serve as aggregators, providing organized lists of
resources
Some of the best are created by institutions of higher
learning, professional organizations, and even
librarians (not that I am biased or anything)
Often times, one doesn’t have to go far to find
good portals for websites
Portals to Info: Close to Home



All of the full-time reference librarians at ULM have
created subject guides for the departments they
serve as liaisons
They have vetted the resources they’ve listed on
their sites, so you know you can trust them
These subject guides can be accessed from the
Library’s home page or through the individual
pages of the librarians
These subject guides are not standardized; they
don’t all contain the same information or look
the same.
But all of them contain websites that have been
vetted by the librarian responsible for the
guide.
The Pharmacy/Health Sciences listing is separate.
http://www.ulm.edu/library/subjectguide.html
Keep scrolling – every
department is covered!
Most of these are either
created by or associated
with universities or libraries.
Portals to Info: The BUBL




The BUBL describes itself as “an Internet-based
information service for the UK higher education
community”
As of April 2011 it is no longer being updated
unfortunately, but it will be maintained
It covers all academic subject areas using the Dewey
Decimal System
It was created and is maintained by the Centre for Digital
Library Research of University of Strathclyde-Glasgow
http://bubl.ac.uk/
ipl2: Information You Can Trust



ipl2 is the result of the merger of the Internet Public
Library and the Librarians’ Internet Index
It is hosted by Drexel University’s College of
Information Science & Technology
A consortium of colleges and universities with
information science programs comprise the entity
responsible for developing and maintaining ipl2
http://www.ipl.org/
Voice of the Shuttle: VoS




VoS began in 1994 as a static collection of links and
has evolved into a searchable database of resources
It covers all academic subject areas (and then some!)
It is also a wonderful resource for faculty and scholars
in general, offering links to resources on academia,
conferences, and related concerns
It is affiliated with the University of California, Santa
Barbara, English Department
http://vos.ucsb.edu/
Aggregators: Similar to Databases


Technically, the portals themselves are also
aggregators, in the sense that they pull together
multiple resources for the researcher
But the resources we’re about to see don’t list
resources like the portals – the user simply inputs
keywords, and the resources return results, like a
database or an Internet search engine…AND the
results are scholarly, and oftentimes periodical
articles NOT websites
Google Scholar




Google Scholar is a specialized Google search engine
that focuses on scholarly documents (NOT sites)
It features books and periodical articles
There’s no guarantee of full-text for a result, but it
does clearly display when full-text is available
It even indicates when a result is from a database like
JSTOR, and if the searcher has valid access to the
database, it’ll link the searcher to the article
http://scholar.google.com/
INFOMINE



Infomine calls itself “a virtual library of Internet
resources relevant to faculty, students, and research
staff at the university level”
It was built and is maintained by librarians from a
variety of universities and colleges from around the
nation
It draws from “databases, electronic journals, electronic
books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card
catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many
other types of information”
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Something a Little Different: DOAJ





DOAJ, or the Directory of Open Access Journals, serves as
portal to vetted scholarly (peer-reviewed), open-access
journals
It covers all disciplines
It’s all FREE, though some journals may require you to
create an account (which is also free) for access
It updates constantly, as new journals are added
Many of them are in English or offer English translations of
their contents
http://www.doaj.org/
Something Else: Open J-Gate




Open J-Gate is like the DOAJ: it has similar aims and
goals, is global, and updated every day
¾ of their journals are peer-reviewed, scholarly
journals; they offer professional/industry journals,
which toe the scholarly line
It indexes “8959 open access journals, with links to
full text”
It offers article-level searching and subject-browsing
http://www.openj-gate.com
http://www.openj-gate.com/
The White Elephant: Wikipedia




Wikipedia is simultaneously one of the most useful tools
I’ve ever encountered and one of the most frustrating
It has its uses in the context of research, but in an indirect
way
Wikipedia content is good for a crash course in basic
concepts, ideas, biographies, etc. – getting acquainted
with the basics
The real treasures of Wikipedia are the notes, references,
and external links
Many of these are legitimate websites, and they
are linked and ready for access. Where they
aren’t available on the web, researchers can still
get references to look up, such as the books.
Several of these are from Ole Miss, Facts on File,
or other respectable .org sites.
Many of these are legitimate websites, and they
are linked and ready for access. Where they
aren’t
available
on the web,
researchers
can still
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get references to look up, such as the books.
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Several
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Final Comments on Wikipedia


If you let your students use Wikipedia, be clear –
say they can use it to get to resources via notes,
references, and external links, but not the content
itself
Wikipedia is also good for connecting researchers
with public domain documents, including oftenstudied literary, historical, and scientific texts
Final Comments on Wikipedia



And let me be clear: I’m NOT saying you should let your students
use Wikipedia…
But I think there are ought to be a more universal attitude with
regards to whether it should be allowed, at least within
departments
Students get mixed messages when one professor says it’s okay
to use, and another say it’s not, and then others take the indirect
approach
Q&A
Survey of Attitudes - After

Will you feel more comfortable about letting
students use the Internet for research now?

If no, what doubts or concerns remain?

If yes, on what terms?
 With
evaluation framework
 List of permitted websites
 Must approve sites

Will this session affect how you do research on the
Internet?
Not Getting Caught in the Web



Presentation URL
http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe/crediblewebsites.pptx
Sites Mentioned in This Presentation
 The BUBL - http://bubl.ac.uk/
 ipl2: Information You Can Trust - http://www.ipl.org/
 Voice of the Shuttle - http://vos.ucsb.edu/
 Infomine - http://infomine.ucr.edu/
 Directory of Open Access Journals - http://www.doaj.org/
 Open J-Gate - http://www.openj-gate.com
My Contact
 http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe
 lowe@ulm.edu
Thanks for Attending!
If the reference librarians can help you in any
way, please don’t hesitate to call on us!