When doing research online, whether you're using web sites from a Google search or one of the library's many databases, it's important that you look at the sources you find with a critical eye.
What does that mean?
It simply means that whenever you read an article, a website, a statistic, etc., you should be a little bit suspicious and use your critical thinking skills to figure out whether or not that piece of information is:
a) useful to you, and
b) high enough quality for your assignment.
For example, maybe you are writing a persuasive paper. In that case, finding essays with a viewpoint for or against a topic would be really useful for you. However, if you were writing an informational report, an essay with a biased opinion about your topic might not be useful. There's nothing wrong with that viewpoint essay; it just doesn't work for your assignment.
Another example would be using a blog post from a pharmaceutical company about a disease you are researching. Often blog posts are not written by experts; they are usually written by social media managers or salespeople. Also, if the company writing about the disease just so happens to also manufacture a drug that treats it, it's very likely the information they provide may be skewed to feel more like a sales pitch for their product. All this is to say that this might not be a high-quality source for your assignment.
A great strategy to use after finding resources for your paper is:
The graphic below is aimed towards "fake news," but keep these tips in mind any time you are researching a new topic.
Click here for a text version of this chart for web accessibility.
Source: IFLA, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Not sure if the source you're using for your assignment is a good one? Use the HAWKS test!
Read the point values for each letter, and circle the one you think most closely applies to your source. Tally up the points at the bottom and see if your source gets a passing grade!
