Davina McKenzie

Professor Kufs
English 114A

1) Conducting Research and Citing Sources

a) -The Library is always a great place to begin your
research. Research librarians continue to be excellent
resources for finding sources for your papers and for
learning best practices for conducting research. Consider
using academic databases like EBSCOhost, libarary
catalogs, and film and video archives.

2) Scott Jaschik A Stand against Wikipedia

a) In A Stand against Wikipedia Scott Jaschik talks about
how the use of Wikipedia in college in becoming a concern
when involving student research and writing. He states
that the two problems when using Wikipedia is the
reliability of the source as well as the fact that students
who are doing college level research papers are using the
site that just consists of background information and not
primary and academic level sources. He goes on to talk
about how the history department at Middlebury College
was taking a stand to ban Wikipedia as a source to cite
when writing research papers of any kind. Don Wyatt, a
department chair believed that Wikipedia was a good
source for bibliographies and believed that the ban should
be ignored. The essay goes on to say how an English
professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara
was also adopting the policy of Wikipedia being an
inappropriate primary or sole source. He ends his essay
by talking about how students are faced with an ocean
of information today and that much of it is poor quality
which means that students should be taught how to make
better use of the site when using it as a source.

3) Patti S. Caravello Judging Quality on the Web

Davina McKenzie
Professor Kufs
English 114A

a) It is essential to know how to evaluate Web sites for the

same reason you would evaluate a periodic article or a
book: to ascertain whether you can rely on the
information, to identify its inherent bases or limitations,
and to see how or whether it fits into your overall
research strategy.
b) A good (useful, reliable) Web site:
i) Clearly states the author and/or organizational source of the
information.
(1)Consider the qualifications, other works, and organizational
affiliation of the author
(2)Look up the organization which produced the Web site (if its
unfamiliar) to identify its credentials, viewpoint, or agenda
(3)If the source is an E-journal, discover whether it is refereed
(reviewed by scholars before it is accepted for publication)
ii) Clearly states the date the material was written and the date the
site was last revised.
(1)If the information is not current enough for your purposes or
the date is not give, look elsewhere.
iii) Provides accurate data whose parameters are clearly defined.
(1)Compare the data found on the Web site with data found in
other sources (encyclopedias, reference books, articles, etc.)
for accuracy, completeness, recency
(2)Ask a librarian about other important sources to check for this
information
iv) Provides the type and level of information you need.
(1)Decide whether the level of detail and comprehensiveness, the
treatment of the topic, and the graphics or other features are
acceptable.
(2)If the site does not provide the depth of coverage you need,
look elsewhere.
v) Keep bias to a minimum, and clearly indicates point of view.

Davina McKenzie
Professor Kufs
English 114A
(1)Be aware that producing a Web page does not require the
checking and review that publishing a scholarly book requires;
you might have retrieved nothing but someones personal
opinion on the topic
(2)Appealing graphics can distract you from noticing even overt
bias, so heighten your skepticism and examine the evidence
(source, data, accuracy, level, links)
vi) Provides live links to related high-quality Web sites.
(1)Click on several of the links provided to see if they are active
(or if they give an error message indicating the links are not
being maintained) and to see if they are useful
(2)Check to see if the criteria are stated for selecting the links
vii) In the case of commercial sites, keeps advertising separate
from content, and does not let advertisers determine content.
(1)Look at the Web address: Sites that are commercial have .com
in their addresses and might have advertising or offer to sell
something. The .com suffix is also found in news sites (e.g.
newspapers, TV networks) and personal pages (sites created
by individuals who have purchased a domain name but who
may or may not have a commercial or institute affiliation)
viii)

Is clearly organized and designed for ease of use.

(1)Move around the page to see if its organization makes sense

and it is easy to return to the top or to the sections you need
(2)Decide whether the graphics enhance the content or detract
from it