Blog Reflection #6

The amount of resources we have gone over in the last few weeks is definetly overwhelming. It's always tempting to fall back into my old habit of returning to my homepage, Google, to do all my researching. Although it's tempting I really appreciate the new resources we have been shown throughout this course. I am able to do more focused and concise research in areas online that I never knew existed before. I really enjoy the homework research questions and have fun with them every week. Exploring these websites freely makes the homework more fun and interesting, actually getting me to use the tools you have provided for us. Thanks for a great class so far!

Blog Reflection #5

When using search engines like Google to find information it seems as though the answer you come up with is the luck of the draw. Which website title looks most promising? Which website seems to contain the information you're looking for? When using online databases such as ProQuest you can rely more heavily on the accuracy of the information provided, whereas information found through the many search engines can be misleading and even completely incorrect. Determining if information you have found on the internet is accurate is somewhat of a science. A great way to start off is to make sure the website you are viewing is maintained or funded by a reputable source. Generally a learning institution is a source that provides accurate and supported information.

A blog that I have referred to several times before is written by Dr. Robert Harris called virtual salt. One of the links on virtual salt provides guidelines for Evaluating internet research sources. A good tip Dr. Harris gives is the CARS checklist. When evaluating a website for accuracy and quality, using the CARS checklist is one of the first things I think of. CARS stands for credibility, accuracy, reasonableness and support. This checklist helps to separate good quality sites from bad quality sites and makes it easy to weed out the innaccurate information.