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How to collect information about the world
When we think about how much information exists, it's easy to become overwhelmed. For example, consider a typical Google search that yields hundreds of millions of results. The amount of existing websites is staggering and constantly growing. And that's just what's available online. When we consider the amount of information available from say cave drawings, to printed materials, art works, artifacts and beyond to technologies not yet invented, the abundance of information becomes clear. So does the problem of finding the right information. In our personal lives, we engage several types of information sources. We consult different kinds of sources based on our particular needs. If I want to learn more about my favorite new band, I might start by a simple Google search or visit a Wikipedia page. I might listen to songs on MySpace or watch music videos by the band, read a feature interview in a music magazine, interact with other fans online, follow the band's blog or twitter feed, or simply converse with my friends. For the purpose of learning more about my new favorite band, these are all pretty good sources of information. When conducting academic research, you'll realize that you follow some of these same steps. But you have to pay much closer attention to the authority and trustworthiness of the information you find. Academic research begins with asking different types of questions. Instead of just wanting to learn more about a topic, like my new favorite band, I might be asking questions regarding the affects of copyright infringement on the recording industry, the cultural politics of a pop music genre, or how music gets marketed to different populations. The more specific you make your research question, the better. The amount of information available to help answer research questions seems as vast as what we use in our everyday lives. First, we often consult academic articles. In many of your classes, you will be required to use academic articles, but you may be asking what that means. Generally speaking, academic articles are produced through a rigorous process called "peer review." The concept of peer review is probably a familiar one. In academic publishing, peer review refers to the process of an author submitting a draft of an article to an editorial board comprised of experts of a particular discipline. Editors review the article and often make suggestions for improvement. The author then revises and resubmits, and this process continues until the editors are satisfied with the article and publish it. Peer review is intended to improve the quality, authority, and trustworthiness of published scholarship. Identifying peer-reviewed articles is easy. Most library databases allow you to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles though may substitute the terms "academic, refereed, or scholarly" for peer-reviewed. The next time you search in a library database, look for a tab or check box that limits your search to academic sources. Of course, there are many other valuable resources that will help you with your research question. Beyond other traditional academic sources, like books and primary documents, more scholars and subject experts are adopting new media to communicate their ideas. You may find blogs, presentations, brief articles, and more by the same authors that write scholarly articles and books on the questions you are researching. In addition, there are many studies, statistics, and reports published by non-profit, government, and professional organizations both in print and online that can help with your research. In these cases, how can you determine a resource's value? We can begin to answer this by considering a few attributes of information. First, who has written the information? Is it a professor that specializes on the subject, a journalist, a working professional? Is it a hobbyist or just an everyday person? Authors' credentials and affiliations are generally found somewhere at the beginning or end of an article. If you can't determine who is responsible for the information you are reading, you may want to look elsewhere. Next, we can consider the potential audience for the piece through a number of context clues. Is the material presented in a way that speaks to a broad audience or a narrow one? Also, think about how the material is written. Is it full of jargon or written in more common language? Is there a lot of data presented in the form of tables, graphs, and statistical models? Does it present background information about the topic or assume the reader is already aware of the background info? Is the publication something you find in every newsstand or bookstore, or is it aimed toward researchers or professionals of a certain field. Determining the publisher of a source can also help. Does the website or publication include a bunch of advertisements? If so, you're likely to be looking at a commercial publication written for a non-academic audience. Is the publication owned by a larger media corporation, produced by a non-profit, by a professional organization? Is it produced by a university, or is it self-published? You can determine this information at the beginning of many print resources, or by clicking the "About" link on many websites. Also, when searching the web, remember that .com and .org sites are freely registered to any entity while .edu and .gov sites are restricted to education and government entities. Much like when you determine authorship, identifying ownership of a resource can help you determine its value. In general, when reviewing a source of information, think about its purpose. Is it written by an expert for the purpose of advancing scholarship, Is it written by a journalist reporting an event? Is it written to persuade the reader? Is it written to fill space and sell advertisements or to promote a product? Sometimes the answer may not be clear, but it's worth thinking about and will help you determine what types of information are best suited to answer your research question
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