Credible sources are those that are trustworthy, and they provide accurate and reliable information. Because you can find a variety of information on the internet, you need to find credible sources in order to get access to the quality information you’re looking for.
Types of Sources
The following are all different types of sources where you can find information online.
Journal Articles
Most scientific journals have copies of their archives online. Oftentimes, you can gain access to these articles through Google Scholar or through your school/university/local library’s subscription. These tend to be the best source of quality information, and peer-reviewed journals are the best of the best.
.Gov, .Edu, .Org Websites
These websites tend to also be very credible with the information contained in them being of high quality. While they’re not as good as journals, and most likely not as recent, they’re still very good. .Gov websites are those run by the United States government. .Edu websites are those run by educational institutions, ranging from elementary schools to major universities. (Typically, higher-education universities cover information while high schools’ (and below) websites are about the schools themselves.) .Org websites are run by organizations, such as the American Red Cross.
All of these tend to be great resources, however, in my opinion, .gov and .edu websites tend to carry a little more credibility than .orgs (Wikipedia is a different animal altogether).
Newspaper Websites
Most newspapers today have their archives online and for free. This may seem like the go-to source because of that, but the problem with using newspapers as sources is that they’re not terribly reliable. They’re good for a quick reference, but it’s best for you to reference the actual source the newspaper uses, as many things can damage the results of a report from journal to newspaper.
.Com and .Net Websites
.Com websites run the gamut from being highly credible (such as the Athlete Resource Center) to very poor credibility. With that being said, I would suggest you do NOT use information you gather from these sorts of websites in reports, papers, etc. Most teachers, professors, etc, will not accept these as credible sources. Besides, you need to be very selective about trusting a website, so it’s just easier when writing papers to stay away from these.
Books
Yes, seriously. Many books can be found online. Google Book Search has digital copies of many old books, as well as excerpts and full copies from recent ones as well. Project Gutenberg also has thousands of digital copies online as well.
How to find credible sources
Now that you know many different places to find quality information, how do you whittle away different articles to find information you want to use? The biggest thing you can do to find this out, is to ask questions of the article. While the questions you can ask are endless, some questions include:
Is there any bias?
Bias is when an outside source interferes with the validity in some way. For an example: say a group of scientists want to test a connection between cancer and smokers. They do all the testing and so forth, but they somehow determine there is no connection. Then, at the end, you realize the test is funded by a company that produces and sells cigarettes. That’s an example of bias.
It’s important to find any potential bias in your source.
Is the experiment conducted appropriately?
Surveying people about their eating habits would be an effective way to gather information (assuming all participants told the truth). Surveying people whether they’re HIV positive isn’t effective (people might not know they have it, they may lie, etc). You need to see if the way the experiment was conducted was appropriate.
What are the specifics of the experiment?
What’s the sample size of the experiment? Was it a double-blind study? What was the control? How long as the experiment conducted? Differences in the answers to these questions can drastically alter the validity and accuracy of the information presented.
What type of information do I need?
Determine the type of information you’re looking for, and what type of source will cover that information.
If you’re just looking for some basic information about current events, use a newspaper. If you’re looking for the effectiveness of creatine on athletic performance, use a journal article. If you’re looking for information on a specific disease, see what a government website has to say about it.
Wrapping up…
Finding credible sources online makes life much easier for you. Not only does the internet become a great resource for your academics, you can utilize it for other areas as well.
