Internet Resources - ENGL 417 - Written Communication for the Workplace - Research Guides at Kansas State University

Websites

There are millions of websites out there on the World Wide Web. How do you know if it's a quality web site?

1. Authorship. Who wrote or created the content? Look for an "About" link to learn the answer to this.

2. Timeliness. When was it created? Some information is stable, like what countries were part of the Axis during World War II. Other information isn't, like the current economic or political statuses of many countries. So, while a website from the National Archives and Records Administration in 2005 about World War II has relevant information, a website about the government of Tunisia from 2008 isn't going to be correct.

3. Bias. Even without reading the "About" section of the site, can you detect a particular bias? Is the site encouraging you to believe something by using emotional language? Does it present an opinion or does it present facts?

4. References. Does the site present references or links to the sources of information it presents? Can you locate these sources so that you can read and interpret the information yourself?

Content Farms

Some websites seem to have all of the answers. Need to know how to french braid hair or train your dog? You can usually find a web site that provides quick and easy steps to accomplish the task. But are they reliable sources of information and are they appropriate for academic purposes? Maybe not. "Content farms" are websites that actually exist to host ads, and they get site visits by posting "articles" written in response to popular web searches. Read more about content farms below:

Heffernan, V. (2011, June 26). Google’s War on Nonsense.Opinionator. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/googles-war-on-nonsense/

Web’s “Content Farms” Grow Audiences For Ads. (2011, April 21). Morning Edition. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2011/04/21/135514220/webs-content-farms-grow-audiences-for-ads

Google!

The internet is awesome! You can find a lot of stuff there (not everything) and sometimes it can be really difficult to actually find what you need as researchers. Below are some explanations of a few super simple ways you can do advanced searches in Google:

A) You can force Google to only give you results for the type of websites you want. Website domains like .gov, .edu, and .org are just a few examples, but you can use others (including designations for foreign countries).

B) You can use symbols like * to shorten words in your search and bring back results for words with similar roots. For examples searching for teach* will return results for "teach," "teaching" and "teacher."

C) Normally when you search in Google it looks for every word individually, which can result in a lot of irrelevant results. If you are searching for specific phrases, you can use quotations to force Google to search for those words together.

Reputations, Fact Checking, Biases, and Political Perspectives

News Sources by Political Perspective

Liberal? Conservative? This guide by Vera Lux at Bowling Green State University provides insight into some major news outlets.

Author Credentials

Check a news publication's website (usually under About Us or Contact Us) for information about their reporters/authors. For example, USAToday has a Staff List. The LA Times has their Editorial and NewsRoom Contacts.
Search for other articles by the author: Do many of their articles seem to favor a particular point of view?

Biases

Is an organization mentioned in relation to an article? Think tanks, associations, and other organizations usually exist for a reason. Learn more about the organization to identify potential biases by:

Going to the organization's website and looking for information about their Mission
Searching for news articles about the organizations that indicate their political leaning.

Are all biases bad? NO. But being aware of them helps contextualize the information presented.

Fact Checking

Curious about the facts presented? Are the numbers accurate? Was someone quoted correctly? There are a few things you can do:

Look for the source of facts yourself. A good author will give you some indication of where they found the information. For example, if an article references a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, go to the CBO's site to locate the report.
The database, ProQuest US Newsstream has transcripts as a Document Type. You may be able to find the transcript of an interview, or the text of a public statement here.
Politifact--focusing on political statements, researchers at the Tampa Bay Time fact check speeches, ads, and more. Politifact references their sources, making it relatively easy for readers to retrace their steps.
FactCheck.org -- also focusing on political statements, this project from the Annenberg Public Policy cetner fact checks speeches, ads, and more. FactCheck.org references their sources, making it relatively easy for readers to retrace their steps.