LibGuides: Researching from off campus: Web Searching

Using the Internet for Research

Using the Internet can pose problems for researchers. Unlike for books and scholarly journals, no standard of scholarship is required or enforced for material posted on the Web. Anyone can create content on the Web, and often there is no way to confirm someone's credentials. It is up to the researcher to evaluate a website for quality. Use the following criteria to evaluate the credibility of the information you find on the Web and to determine if a website is suitable for scholarly research:

Authority: What are the author's qualifications for writing on the subject? Can you locate the author(s) or site creator(s) on the page? Are they affiliated with a research institution or branch of government, for example?
Accuracy: How reliable and free from error is the information? You may need to double-check it against a source you know is reliable (such as a book or scholarly article).
Objectivity: Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? Are the authors pushing one point of view? Consider this even when the site is about a topic that is not necessarily controversial--for example, was the site created by a corporation, who may be attempting to market a product to you?
Currency: Is the information current, and can you tell when it was published?

Check the domain of the site for clues as to its reliability (.com, .edu, .gov, .org, etc.). Some domains are restricted to certain types of organizations, while others may be bought or sold by anyone. The domains .edu, .gov and .mil are strictly limited to educational institutions, branches of government, and the military. There are no limitations on .com & .org. Always be aware of who is publishing the website.

Evaluating Sources from UC Berkeley LibGuides
Methods for evaluation along with explanations about types of sources.
Methods for Evaluating Sources from U Chicago Library
defines CRAAP; SIFT; SMART methods of evaluating sources.

Research Tools

Using Research Assistant Tools and Search Engines

There are many AI-assisted research tools available and generic search engines that have the potential to be very useful. As with anything in research, you need to consider the resources that you are using. Ask yourself: How will this tool help me? What are the limitations? There is no magical tool that searches and allows access to everything. You should anticipate trying many searches in a variety of sources. Below are a few examples:

Google Scholar is Manipulatable
TLDR; This study uncovered that citation numbers can be artificially boosted in Google Scholar.
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Citations are widely considered in scientists’ evaluation. As such, scientists may be incentivized to inflate their citation counts. While previous literature has examined self-citations and citation cartels, it remains unclear whether scientists can purchase citations. Here, we compile a dataset of ∼1.6 million profiles on Google Scholar to examine instances of citation fraud on the platform. We survey faculty at highly-ranked universities, and confirm that Google Scholar is widely used when evaluating scientists. Intrigued by a citation-boosting service that we unraveled during our investigation, we contacted the service while undercover as a fictional author, and managed to purchase 50 citations. These findings provide conclusive evidence that citations can be bought in bulk, and highlight the need to look beyond citation counts.
Improving the Reliability of Literature Reviews: Detection of Retracted Articles through Academic Search Engines
TLDR; This study determined that retracted articles are not as frequently identified with generic academic search engines like Google Scholar. Academic search engines do a better job at tracking this updated information from the pulishers.
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Nowadays, a multitude of scientific publications on health science are being developed that require correct bibliographic search in order to avoid the use and inclusion of retracted literature in them. The use of these articles could directly affect the consistency of the scientific studies and could affect clinical practice. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of the main scientific literature search engines, both general (Gooogle Scholar) and scientific (PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and Web of Science), used in health sciences in order to check their ability to detect and warn users of retracted articles in the searches carried out. The sample of retracted articles was obtained from RetractionWatch. The results showed that although Google Scholar was the search engine with the highest capacity to retrieve selected articles, it was the least effective, compared with scientific search engines, at providing information on the retraction of articles. The use of different scientific search engines to retrieve as many scientific articles as possible, as well as never using only a generic search engine, is highly recommended. This will reduce the possibility of including retracted articles and will avoid affecting the reliability of the scientific studies carried out.

Is it Fake News?

The internet can be a treasure trove of information. But, unfortunately, there are pitfalls. In many cases, the information you find might not be correct or could be biased. Here are some tips that will help you evaluate sources of information. After reading this graphic, check out the Library's video on "How to Spot Fake News."

Source: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (2017). How to spot fake news. Retrieved from

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:How_to_Spot_Fake_News.jpg

Link to Library Guide "Fake News!": The 5 Ws and More

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Researching from off campus

Library Services

Spotting Fake News

Using the Internet for Research

Research Tools

Is it Fake News?