Research Help

In research, it’s easy to think that more is better. Access to more books, more papers and articles surely leads to better research, right?

The reality is that quality matters more than quantity. Finding the best, most trustworthy sources is the real challenge.

That’s why academic databases matter. These resources make it easier to find the most useful, high quality and relevant information available.

Usually academic databases are accessed through your school’s library and include access to journals, newspapers, magazines, reports, newsletters, images, ebooks, and more.

Using an academic database means you can save time by quickly identifying resources that matter for your research.

The most popular academic databases cover a wide variety of subjects. Others may focus on specific subjects, like science, history, or business. Let’s take a look at how they work.

Once you’ve selected a database that relates to your research, you’ll likely be able to use search to find what you need.

Consider using quotation marks for words that appear together. You can also use synonyms along with the word “Or” to see broader results.

You might see thousands of results, so you’ll need to do some filtering. You may be able to filter the results based on the type of publication, publication date, language and more.

When you find a resource that seems useful, open it and review the title, author, publish date and publisher.

You’ll often see an abstract at the top that summarizes the content of the article and helps you evaluate if it is relevant. The abstract may also help you identify more useful search terms for finding additional resources. The full article may be available by clicking “Full Text”.

The database may also provide a button for creating a citation if you use the resource.

The next time you need to do research, don’t waste time digging through piles of materials to find a few good sources.

Instead, ask your librarian about academic databases and you’ll discover a resource that makes your research more efficient and effective.

In research, it’s easy to think that more is better. Access to more books, more papers and articles surely leads to better research, right?

The reality is that quality matters more than quantity. Finding the best, most trustworthy sources is the real challenge.

That’s why academic databases matter. These resources make it easier to find the most useful, high quality and relevant information available.

Usually academic databases are accessed through your school’s library and include access to journals, newspapers, magazines, reports, newsletters, images, ebooks, and more.

Using an academic database means you can save time by quickly identifying resources that matter for your research.

The most popular academic databases cover a wide variety of subjects. Others may focus on specific subjects, like science, history, or business. Let’s take a look at how they work.

Once you’ve selected a database that relates to your research, you’ll likely be able to use search to find what you need.

Consider using quotation marks for words that appear together. You can also use synonyms along with the word “Or” to see broader results.

You might see thousands of results, so you’ll need to do some filtering. You may be able to filter the results based on the type of publication, publication date, language and more.

When you find a resource that seems useful, open it and review the title, author, publish date and publisher.

You’ll often see an abstract at the top that summarizes the content of the article and helps you evaluate if it is relevant. The abstract may also help you identify more useful search terms for finding additional resources. The full article may be available by clicking “Full Text”.

The database may also provide a button for creating a citation if you use the resource.

The next time you need to do research, don’t waste time digging through piles of materials to find a few good sources.

Instead, ask your librarian about academic databases and you’ll discover a resource that makes your research more efficient and effective.

What on Earth does “peer-reviewed” mean, anyway?

As a Georgian College student, you have access to many academic and scholarly journals. The articles published in these journals can be excellent resources for research assignments. Journals can be in a paper format or accessible in electronic databases, such as Page 1+ or Science Direct.

Academic or scholarly journals focus on publishing articles in a specific field of study. These journals are typically published by universities, professional associations, and specialized educational publishers.

Often the title of the publication describes its content. For example, the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking publishes articles discussing social networks, gaming, mobile device use, and related behaviors.

The academic and scholarly articles published in these journals tend to focus on narrow topics. They’re written by experts who are knowledgeable in their specific field and use the technical language of that field. The references provided at the end of these articles can be an excellent source of other resources on the topic.

Scholarly articles are different from other academic articles because they are peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed means that the article has been submitted to the scholarly journal for review by its panel of experts in the field for accuracy, credibility, and reliability prior to being published. Revisions to the article may be required before it will be accepted for publication. This process ensures that scholarly, peer-reviewed articles are very reliable sources of information.

Examples are original research articles, case studies, and review articles. It’s important to note that not every article published in a scholarly journal is peer reviewed. For example, it may also contain book reviews, editorials, or letters.

Accessing Page 1+ and other library resources

Accessing resources, whether you’re at home or on campus, requires you to sign in to the databases.

Let's say you're using Page 1+ . In order to see the full text of an article or eBook, or to view a streaming video, you need to sign in. Look for the sign in option in the top right corner of Page 1+ or the yellow bar below the search boxes. When you see the login screen, select Georgian students and staff. You will see this login screen where you'll be prompted to enter your Georgian account information. This is the same account that you use to access other college systems like Blackboard or the student portal.

When you access other library databases, you will be prompted with the same Georgian login box.

Finally, we're here to help you so just ask. Feel free to visit us at the research help desk in the library, call us or email us or use our virtual reference chat or text service called askON. askON is a service where colleges from Ontario like Georgian, Seneca and Centennial are all on there and since we pretty much use all the same databases we can all help you find your books, articles and other resources that you need for your next assignment.

Searching keywords in Page 1+

The library has many databases to support your assignments. Most of which can be searched simultaneously from the Page 1+ box located on the library's homepage. You can search for eBooks, streaming video recordings, academic journals, and multiple article databases that we subscribe to.

In the last video, we ended up identifying artificial intelligence and education, as the main keywords which we can now use in Page 1+.

Let's go to the library homepage. One way to get there is by going to library.georgiancollege.ca. You'll find our Page 1+ box. Go ahead and enter: artificial intelligence. Then click search. Within Page 1+ you are able to locate a number of different types of resources as it searches through many of the article databases that support your program. .

Let’s see what eBooks we have available.

On the left hand side under Resource Types, check Books, then click Apply Filters. To limit to only electronic books, check “Available Online” under Availability and Apply Filters. Let's say you're interested in this eBook. To read it, select the database listed under “Full text availability”. Books are great for helping us understand a topic at a broad level.

Let's now try a different limiter. Let's take away the filter for Books and this time checkmark: videos. Now our results include streamed video. Click the “available online” link and then the database listed under “full text availability”. Videos are great for presentations or can be used as a resource.

Alongside Books and videos, let's try to find articles. Take away the checkmark for videos. Articles are found in newspapers, magazines and journals.

Articles are generally more specific and more current. To access the article select the Available online link and then a database name to get to the full text. Finally, if you need peer-reviewed articles, click the checkbox for peer-reviewed journals as well.

Using AND & OR in Page 1+

Now let's modify our search to include our second keyword -- education. Let's remove any limits we may have had before and then type the second keyword in the next search box. Always put one idea or concept per line and connect them by AND to find more relevant results. Notice Page 1+ automatically has AND by default. Click Search and you'll notice the number of your search results has reduced. These results contain only those items that contain both keywords.

Here's how AND works. The analogy that I like to use is Facebook. Your mutual friends list is a result of an AND operator. You have 'you', your friends, your friend and their friends -- somewhere behind the Facebook code, there is an actual AND operator that looks at both of you and outputs a list of shared friends.

Same thing here -- you have a bunch of articles about artificial intelligence. Over here you have a bunch of articles about education. The AND operator will only output a list of articles that talk about both ideas resulting in more relevant and focused results. If the article does not talk about both, it's discarded.

Now what happens if the perfect article never uses the word education. What are the chances of finding that article? What is a synonym of education? Perhaps College or university. So to widen our net, and to try to capture those articles, we can use the OR operator. So in our second box where we already typed education, add 'OR college where the word OR is in capital letters. Then click Search. Our results have increased, but are still relevant to our topic.

Here's how OR works. Page 1+ examines the article to see if talks about education. If it does, it's part of the list of results. If it doesn't, Page 1+ then tests to see if it talks about college. If it does, it's part of the list of results. Which means, if the article does not contain either of those concepts, it's discarded. These results will then be further refined since they need to include 'artificial intelligence' as well.

Now that we have a list of relevant results, the next step, is evaluating whether or not these articles are useful and relevant for our assignment.

Evaluating resources

Let's say you have to write a research paper using at least one book and one scholarly article published within the last five years on the topic of "How is artificial intelligence changing education?" Let's imagine you also searched Page 1 + using the keywords "artificial intelligence" and "education" and you found two potentially good resources.

The first one is this electronic book "The fourth education revolution: Will artificial intelligence liberate or infantilize humanity". To evaluate whether or not it's good for your topic, ask yourself the following five questions.

So one, does the source include my keywords in the title and subject headings? We can see that education and artificial intelligence show up in the title for the book. Let's scroll down and look at the subject headings and we only see artificial intelligence. We don't see education. That's okay for now - we're not going to be worried at this point because we have other questions to answer.

Question 2 - is the source published in the required timeframe? We can see that this book was published in 2020 so that's within the last 5 years and that's good.

Question 3 - does the type of my resource meet the assignment requirements? Is a scholarly? Let's see if we can figure out if this item is a scholarly book. I'm going to scroll down to the item details and I can see that the publisher is the University of Buckingham Press. Usually a university press is considered a scholarly publisher. So the answer to that question is yes.

Question 4 - does the abstract or table of contents reflect what I need to answer my research question? So the description for this book isn't very helpful so I'm going to go to the actual book. I'm going to link out and I'm going to see a larger description here and as I scroll down I'm also going to see the table of contents.

So I can see that there are definitely ones that are talking about education specifically education 4.0. And if I scroll up and look at the description, here we are talking about the role of artificial intelligence and its impact on education.

So I think that is a good description. The final question to ask is, is the source useful for my assignment? Based on all of the information, I think that this will be a good source that we can use. Notice that what we are doing is a lot of critical thinking and reviewing the information to determine whether or not we want to use the resource.

Now here's the second resource to evaluate. It is identified as an article. And now the first thing I want to look, are the words "artificial intelligence" and "education" listed in the title and in the subjects.

Artificial intelligence is certainly in the title of the article. I'm going to scroll down to the subjects and here I can see "college students", I can see "educational technology", "higher education" - so it's kind of there.

Looking at when it was published - 2021 - that's definitely within the five-year time span so the answer to that question is yes. Is this a scholarly article? Well we can see that it has identified that the journal is peer reviewed which typically identifies scholarly.

And when we look at the source "International Journal of educational technology in higher education", From the title of the journal and the fact that it is a journal, we can typically say that yes, this is a scholarly resource.

Next we need to look at the description for this article to see whether or not it will support the research question. We can look through here, we can say that AI offers effective support for online learning and teaching. What else can we find in here?

We've got impact on student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Is there anything else in here that might identify that it's useful. Contributions of the study include the design of AI system storyboards that positively support learner instructor interaction capturing students and instructors concerns etc.

Based on that, the description seems to be describing some of the impacts that artificial intelligence can have in a particular circumstance of education. So given all of the answers to my questions I think I can potentially use this source as well.

Select a database to link to the full text. If you decide to use it, you can e-mail or print. And remember to cite your article. This will be covered in the next video.

Citing Tools and APA Citing Guide.

Let's say you found an article in your search that you now want to use

Here's an example. First click on the title to get to the detailed record. Find the citation icon and click on that to generate an APA 7th citation. You can copy this citation and put it into your document for your reference list entry

But as it reminds you, you must always check any citation for accuracy before including them in your work. Citations generated from databases or any citation generator do not always fully complete a reference and you need to verify that it matches the APA 7th rules and formatting. To access the full text of the article, move down the page and select one of the databases to find the full text

And select that database. Your article will open in a new tab and you have some options at this point.

If you see a printer inside the document itself you can now print this item.

If you find something that identifies as download, this will allow you to save the article to your computer or your USB. Look for an email option - a little envelope - and you can select that and enter in your email and it will usually attach the PDF of the document as well as an APA 7th citation. Each database vendor may have a slightly different way of offering those options but you should still be able to find ways to save, to print, and to email yourself the article from any one of our databases. For more help with APA, go to the library home page and find the APA icon.

Select that and you'll be taken to our APA 7th citation guide. Here you can find information on formatting your paper, what makes a reference list entry, and how to do in-text citations. Do you have an article from a journal that you need to cite?.

That's considered a textual work. Selecting textual work will give you several different options of what's included.

And you can find Journal examples of citations when you go. Or maybe you have a website or social media post that you're trying to reference. What is online media provides examples in this category. Or you may have a video that you want to reference. What is audio visual media talks about all of the elements in an audio-visual reference list entry. Need more assistance with APA? On the library website under Learning Services select The Writing Centre.

Here you can find that there are APA Workshop screencasts that go into what is APA, how to format your title page and your paper, how to complete references, and in-text citations.

Roadmap to Research: A Research Process Checklist

It’s helpful to have a process or checklist to follow when you’re researching. Let’s look at a six-step checklist to take you through the steps. You should keep in mind that in some circumstances you will not do everything on the list, you may not follow the steps in order, and you may have to go through the checklist more than once – and that’s OK. The checklist is a tool to help you stay on track.

Step one is clearly stating your research question. Keep referring to your question as you proceed through the checklist. You might modify your question as you learn more about your topic and gather resources. It might become broader, or more specific. You may need to consult your professor if this happens and you intend to change the focus of your research as a result.

Step two is fully examining your assignment and identifying any requirements or specifications that it provides. What types of resources do you need to use, such as books, peer-reviewed articles, or web resources? How many resources do you need? For example it might require that you use three articles, or at least one web resource. What is the final output or product, for example a video, an essay, a report, or a case study? Be aware that not all assignments will provide all of these details. Make note of the due date so that you can schedule your research, organization, and writing time.

Step three is to define and explore your topic. Use your research question to generate some manageable, focused questions that you will need to address in your research. Use the basic questions – who, what, where, why, when, and how – to help you. Decide what keywords you are going to use in your search.

Step four is to determine the types of information that you need and where you will find it. For example, do you need statistics? Do you need research articles? Do you need images? Where will you find this information? Is it on the web or in one of the library’s databases? Do you need a book to provide a basic introduction to your topic? Should you interview someone knowledgeable about your topic? Now you know what you’re looking for and where you’re going to look and can carry out your search.

Step five is to evaluate what you have found against your research question and assignment. You need to think about relevance, authority, point of view, timeliness, and the context of what you find. Make sure you have all of the details necessary to reference the resources you are using in your final paper or product.

Step six is to begin creating your product or paper. As you go along, document your sources using the citation style required by your professor, such as APA or MLA. You may need to use in-text citation for your sources in addition to creating a reference or works cited list at the end.

Remember, you may need to repeat this entire checklist or repeat a specific step. In real life the research process is rarely neat and tidy.

You can always consult your professor if you have questions. You can also ask library staff to assist you with gathering information and using specific library tools.

Research Papers

At one time or another, most students are asked to write a research paper. Making your paper successful means understanding that writing a paper is more than just an assignment. It’s really a way to practice important skills that you’ll use in the real world.

Let’s start with the big picture. Whether you’re at school or work, your success depends on being able to argue points and influence others. A research paper is how you can practice this skill. You are writing an argument.

Imagine that you’re at work and your goal is to convince your manager you deserve a raise. How you present this argument matters. To get the result you want, you’ll need to support your argument with evidence and consider your manager’s perspective.

To start, you’ll want to search broadly and learn as much about your topic as you can. You could gather and analyze performance reviews, productivity stats and salary history to build your case for earning a raise. You can also look outside the company and include published reports and studies.

This evidence will help you develop your claim or thesis. This is a statement that frames what you expect and why it makes sense. It has two parts, the claim “I deserve a raise” and the evidence that supports it “based on my performance and these reports”. This sets the stage and shows your manager that you’re prepared.

But there’s more. To be successful, you must also anticipate your manager’s perspective and what questions or arguments she may have. Will she challenge any of your points? Will she compare your performance to others on the team? By anticipating her questions and concerns, you can have answers ready and make your case even stronger.

This method of developing an argument can be practiced by writing a research paper. You’ll look at evidence, make a claim based on that evidence and then be prepared to defend your points.

In English class, this may mean reading a passage from a book, like Moby Dick, and noticing evidence of symbolism. Using this information you can develop a claim with evidence about the author’s intentions that you can defend in an argument.

In history class, you may notice a wide variety of global events seem connected by a single theme during World War II. This evidence leads you to develop a claim or thesis that the events are indeed connected and prepare to answer questions that challenge your thesis.

By developing a strong argument, you may be able to influence others to see history or a work of literature from a different perspective.

Research papers take many forms, but at heart, they are all arguments designed to influence others. And earning influence can help you be more successful in the future.

If you think about it, much of the information that goes into a paper or article can be organized into three groups: “common knowledge” “my ideas”, and “other people’s ideas”. By understanding these groups, we can see why citations matter in our work. 


Let’s start with common knowledge, which consists of well established and reliable facts. For example, George Washington being the first US president is an established fact found in a variety of reliable sources. A year having 365 days is also considered common knowledge.

Next, let’s consider “my ideas”. This group consists of your personal thoughts, opinions, conclusions, and analysis of your topic. If you are conducting your own original research, it would also fall into this category.

And finally, there are other people’s ideas - and these deserve special care. When we research a topic, we’re likely to find and borrow helpful information and discoveries that came from the work of specific individuals or organizations whose work was published in reputable books, journals, articles and websites. 
“Other people’s ideas” also include quotes from other writing that support or debate points that you’re making. A paper or project may include all three types of information.

While common knowledge and your ideas don’t usually need special treatment, when other people’s ideas are included in your paper, readers do need to know. This can be done with citations. Using citations shows you’re responsible. You’ve done the research, given credit to the right people, provided the reader with resources for more learning and avoided plagiarism.

A citation consists of two parts that work together. These are the in-text citation and full citations. Here’s how they work…

When you use someone else’s ideas, the reader needs to know, but adding the required information into the middle of your paper would be annoying and hard to read.

So, we need a quick way to indicate when a section is based on someone else's ideas. This is done with an in-text citation. It’s a brief notification within the body of the text that specific words, ideas, figures, or images were taken from other sources. These point the reader to the second part of a citation--the full citation--which can be found either at end of the paper or at the bottom of the page. This way, the text remains readable and it’s clear when you use other people's’ ideas.

Often, full citations have all the information needed to find the original publication. These include author names, titles of books or journals, publishers, publication dates, page numbers and more.

Let’s look at two common ways to cite your sources in a paper:
 Imagine that you use an idea from a book in your paper and need to cite it.

An in-text citation could might include the author’s last name and year published, author’s last name and page number, or simply a number. These connect the reader to the full citation, which may be in a bibliography at the end of the paper, or in a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Using citations is part of being a responsible student and researcher, but it’s also a service to others. They acknowledge the people whose work helped establish what is known about the world and provides a way for your readers to dive even deeper into your subject.

Evaluating Resources: Digging Deeper

Once you have determined that a resource may be helpful because it relates to your topic and meets your assignment’s requirements for length, resource type, and so on, you need to dig deeper and evaluate the actual content of the resource. You want to use high-quality information because excellent resources lead to better assignments.

Here are some questions to consider when determining the quality of a resource, whether it’s an article, a book, a video, a web resource, or any electronic equivalent.

Look at the authors. Does their educational background fit the subject area of the resource? Are they qualified to write in this field? For example, doctors and nurses are qualified to publish in medical or nursing journals, while others may not be.

Look at the publisher. An authoritative or respected publisher is often referred to as academic or scholarly. This shows a level of confidence in their published information, study results, and data. Books, journals, and web resources may be published by an academic institution such as the University of Toronto, or by a well-known academic publisher like Sage. Some journals contain peer-reviewed articles. That means that they have undergone a rigorous scholarly review process prior to publication.

Look at the intended audience for the resource. For whom has it been written? Is it written for the general public, for a professional in the field, or for an academic researcher? Clues can be found in the language used: Is it conversational or is it technical? Is the language specific to a field or discipline?

Consider why something has been published. Has it been written to inform or to entertain a wide audience? Has it been written by professionals in a field for those working in the field? For example, has it been written for people working in graphic design, the golf industry, computer programming, the tourism industry, or early childhood education? Has it been written to present research in an academic context?

Consider the question of bias. Every article is written from the author’s point of view. You should be able to tell if the information is based mainly on the author’s opinion or if it’s based on facts or research. Is the author fairly presenting both sides of an argument or promoting only one side of the discussion? Is he or she showing prejudice against an idea or group?

It’s important that you use multiple resources that provide a balanced and well-supported foundation for your topic. Considering all of these questions while gathering your resources will help to ensure that you produce a high-quality result.

You probably know someone who is a big sports fan. Win or lose, their team is the best and they love to let others know.

In sports, we expect people to be biased for their own team. Their goal isn’t fairness and it’s obvious.

They wear their bias on their sleeve, or even their face on occasion. And just like people root for sports teams, they also root for ideas, laws, products, research, politicians and more.

People often write articles, make videos and do interviews that are biased. They are designed to promote their team’s side of the story. And that’s fine. Bias can rally a team and win debates for the greater good.

The problem is that bias is often hidden. What might appear to be neutral, fair information can be biased.

For example, to understand the current state of climate change you can’t depend on one team’s biased perspective. You need information that is neutral, fair and unbiased.

The same is true for important decisions in science, education, government and more. Unbiased information is essential.

The problem is that it can be hard to see whether the goal of an article, for instance, is to be fair, or to root for their team. The best you can do is learn to detect bias.

Imagine reading an article and asking yourself: Who is the author and what is their motivation? Do they earn money or benefit by promoting one idea over another? If so, the article may be biased.

Does the author provide only one way to think about a subject? Do they ignore key information or perspectives that don’t fit their own? If so, they may be biased.

Are sources cited in the article? Who or what are they and what role do they play? If the sources are biased, there may be misinformation and the article itself may be biased.

Does the article use insulting language or buzzwords? Does it use examples that appeal to only one side of a story? If so, the article may be biased.

It’s important to note that bias isn’t always bad, and can be helpful. The key is learning to recognize the author’s bias and evaluating the information with that bias in mind. This way, you can choose the best sources for your needs.

So You Found Something on the Web: Should You Use It or Lose It?

When you’re evaluating web content, you ask many of the same questions as you do with other types of resources. Who created or published it and what expertise do they have in the subject? When was the content created? What is the focus of the content and the intended audience?

Look at the creator or publisher. With a web resource the creator may be an individual, organization, association, corporation, or government department. What qualifies them to publish in this field? Look for contact information, an “about us” page, or an author biography or educational qualifications to determine the expertise of the creator or publisher. Can you find this information? If not, you may want to reconsider using the resource.

Consider YouTube. The person who uploaded a video may not be the creator or copyright holder of the content. The same is true for sites like Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The poster is often not the creator of the content. You have to determine the original creator and copyright holder in order to cite the content properly.

Consider wikis such as Wikipedia. They allow collaborative publishing and editing of content. It may not be possible to identify the original creator or editors. Sometimes the content added to an entry is deliberately biased or inaccurate. Wiki content is also likely to change because it can be edited or updated at any time.

Try to determine when the information that you’re looking at was written, published, or updated. This date may be different from the date when the website was created or updated. Even new websites can have older content. It’s up to you to determine if that content is still valid.

Identify the intent of the content. Does the creator have an obvious bias or are both sides of the question considered? Is the content based on facts or opinion? How are the conclusions supported? Is there any evidence provided, such as references to other research or links to other credible sources? Do other websites link to the one you’re evaluating? Is the intent of the content to advertise, persuade, or inform? It’s important that the web content you use is appropriate for your assignment, so consider these points carefully.

You can find other clues in the way the website is presented.

A well-designed and maintained website may be an indicator of credible content. Look for appropriate graphics, advertising, and high-quality images. The website should not have dead links, spelling or grammar errors, or typos. Sites translated into English may be an exception – consider the website’s language and country of origin. Also be aware that some sites are developed specifically as fakes or may feature humourous or satirical content.

It’s important to verify content that you find on the web by consulting other sources, both on and off the web.

If you’ve considered all of these questions, you’ve completed a thorough evaluation and can make an informed decision about including the website as a source in your research.

Evaluating Generative AI output

Publicly accessible A-I tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and more can generate fast content for you, but they often come with compromises around your personal information, the credibility of the generated output, and the protection of copyright and intellectual property. This can equate to stealing someone’s ideas, research, writing, art, photography, or other creative or academic efforts, and can affect the creator’s livelihood.

Remember that anything you submit to a Generative A-I tool, including your questions, information about your assignment or a work project, source information and potentially personal information you may submit during your conversation with the tool will often become part of the dataset.

Do not copy and paste or upload any information to an A-I tool unless you own the rights to it, or you risk violating copyright and intellectual property laws. Unless you have specific permission, this applies to your professor’s course materials, information from textbooks or resources you find in the library, information and documents from your workplace, and more.

Here's some sample content generated by the tool DeepSeek.

Web-based generative A-I tools usually cannot tell you where they got their information reliably, and often fabricate realistic sounding references, facts and data that cannot be verified. While some tools are a little better, the majority cannot be assumed credible. When you have permission to use a tool, remember that you’re responsible for its output. Make sure you leave time to evaluate the output you plan to use.

Did you ask the tool for references or research on a topic? You’ll need to access these sources AND read them before using them in your work.

How can you check sources? Click on provided links to review source materials. Uh oh, we’ve got a problem. The first link is invalid, and the second links to a completely different article. These APA citations provided are either fabricated or incorrect.

Link doesn’t work or can’t access the article? Look it up in a library database to see if it exists. If an article exists, searching with information from the reference will take you right to the source. You can also do the same with Google. Articles that actually exist will show in Google, even if the library doesn’t have them. Looks like the first of these sources exists, but DeepSeek has provided the wrong link.

The second article reference linked to a completely different source than expected. This is usually an indicator that the generative A-i tool has fabricated a reference. Let’s try looking up the journal mentioned on Google. While the journal volume and number exist, the article that DeepSeek cited does not exist in this publication. The tool has fabricated a reference by combining bits and pieces of likely content on this topic.

Did you ask for a quote, facts or data? You’ll need to fact check and ensure the sources used are credible and suitable for your project. As you’ve seen so far, It is not enough to assume that because the system gave you a reference, the information is factual or real. Once you’ve located the sources mentioned, check to make sure quotes and facts are accurate. In this case, while the first article did exist, the quote was fabricated and doesn’t show up in the article!

You can also fact check data and information against other sources on the same topic. Try Googling to verify the info. In the paragraph, DeepSeek states that censorship attempts in Canadian libraries are rising. If we search in Google, you can see that a variety of potentially credible sources state this fact. If you've verified the information is accurate, but there’s no citation – now would be a good time to cite a verified, credible source to support this work.

Once you’ve verified that the information is factual and can be backed up by a real source, it’s time to evaluate the source itself.

You might find the CRAP test to be helpful in this scenario. Just like you do when you conduct your own research, carefully review the source asking yourself questions about whether or not it’s Credible, Reliable, Authoritative and Accurate, and what the Purpose or point of view behind the source is. You may find it helpful to pause the video or take a screenshot of some of the questions you can ask yourself during a CRAP test. While it may seem tedious at first, the more you use the CRAP test tool, the easier it gets. You can find more information on the CRAP test on the Library’s website.

It can be time consuming to verify references, fact check information and determine if sources are really credible. Make sure you leave enough time to complete this work before finalizing and handing in your assignment.

Need help? Check in with the Library and Learning Services team for assistance.

These days people have new powers. Not that kind. I mean on the Web. We can create websites and post messages to the world with the click of a button. Blogs, social networking sites and Twitter - all make it easy. But this power comes with new responsibilities, especially when it comes to the workplace.

Organizations often monitor what is said about them in the media and control every message that comes from the company. But these days blogs and social networking sites mean that companies can't keep up - the media has become social. New ways to understand and react to what's being said online are new needed. That's why organizations are beginning to encourage employees to understand and be a part of online conversations. Consider this:

Chair Hero had made quality chairs for twenty years. Recently something happened: one of their chair models was defective and people were falling down. Soon enough, blogs, social networking sites and Twitter were all writing about their defective chairs. Within two days, they were overwhelmed.

The company started to panic. What could they do? What will work in this new world?

At first, they wrote press releases and posted information on their website. It helped a little, but they could see the conversations were happening elsewhere. They felt powerless, like they had lost control.

A potential solution to this problem requires a new way of thinking about company communication. These days, customers want more than just another press release - they want to have an honest conversation with someone from the company - often outside the company website.

To make these conversations productive and reduce the risks, companies need to have a few things in place:

• 1. Official accounts on popular social media sites
• 2. A way to monitor what's being said about them, using services like Google Alerts or Twitter Search
• 3. Guidelines that give employees clear direction

Let's look at how this works. Silas recently went through Chair Hero's training sessions on using social media. It's now a part of his job to identify and respond to people talking about the company online. Before responding to a recent blog post, Silas goes through a quick checklist:

He asks himself, Does this need a response? In this case, Yes - he can offer valuable information.

Is he the right person? Yes - He knows the facts. Does he know the culture? Yes - he knows the blog and what's been said before

So, Silas decides to get involved. Following the guidelines at his company, he introduces himself as a company representative and provides a short disclaimer. He's careful to speak in the first person and focuses on the subject and not the person. His goal is to be personable, respectful and never angry. In this case, he may just need to provide a link to clear up the issue and an offer to help in the future. Before posting it, he quickly makes sure no confidential info has been shared. The next day, Silas receives a quick "thank you", and an added benefit - his response will now be seen by others - and even appear in search results.

Silas was able to take a risky situation and turn it into an informative message - without taking the rest of the company's valuable time. He added value and built trust with customers - and that's the main role of employees using social media, whether is a crisis like a defective chair model, every day customer support or just sharing information.

The web is too wide for a company to control every communication. But a company can understand the growing influence of social media, and create an environment where employees are empowered to participate and build trust with their customers.

Let’s pretend, for a moment, that you are a detective trying to solve a crime. You and your hound find the trail of a criminal in the woods and notice footprints. Because of your training, you can tell what direction they were headed, how fast they were going, what size shoe they wear, what kind of shoe, approximate weight and more. This is valuable information for the investigation - the criminal didn’t even know that clues were being left behind automatically.

Something similar happens on the internet. When we visit websites, search for information, leave comments, upload videos, like pages and more, we leave another kind of footprint that’s also valuable. This is your digital footprint.

To understand why your digital footprint is valuable, we have to consider how business works on the web. Organizations depend on collecting and analyzing what people do on their website. That information can help the website, make recommendations, inspire helpful features, connect people, sell products and more.

The organization may also be able to sell the information to advertisers. The bottom line is that your digital footprint is being tracked and saved because it’s valuable. And leaving tracks is unavoidable. By simply using the web, we leave digital footprints by default. And for the most part they are harmless. However, digital footprints do come with risks. Unlike a footprint left in the woods, our digital footprints don’t get washed away. Your digital footprint leaves tracks across the web that lasts much longer than we can remember.

That comment you left on a blog five years ago? It’s still there. This means your digital footprint is part of your online identity and doesn’t go away. The problem is that your digital footprints could be discovered and used to make decisions when you apply for school or a job. What seemed like a funny video to share 3 years ago could seem inappropriate today - and keep you from getting a job.

So, if digital footprints are unavoidable and saved by organizations, what can we do? First, we can choose to be respectful and responsible online. Before posting on a public website, imagine how it would look to a future employer or on the front page of a newspaper.

Second, we can take steps to protect our privacy. This means understanding how our favorite websites and services collect and use our information. Find the site’s privacy settings and choose a level that works for you.

Third, consider having more than one account or persona online. This could be a professional account and personal account. By consciously switching between accounts, you can keep private information private, but still have an online presence that can be found easily.

Our digital footprints can be both helpful and a risk. As you use the web for work school or to be social, keep in mind that your actions are being tracked and it’s your responsibility today to prevent problems in the future.

In the past, doing something embarrassing wasn't a big deal. It happened, and then people moved on. But now that things can be shared on the Web immediately, those embarrassing moments can last forever and impact your reputation and those of your friends.

Let's talk about what happens on the Web. Search engines are constantly scanning it. Their goal is to take a snapshot of every word, picture and video on the web and save it for search results. This means that once a page has been scanned, it may be there forever. Even if the image is deleted from a site, it may still be found in the future - which is when problems can occur.

Think about it this way. If you share videos of yourself or others doing illegal things, or photos that make people look bad, it could seriously harm their reputations. And sometimes it's hard to tell. What seems like a funny photo today, Yaaay! may look very different to someone who finds it the future - Boooo! By understanding a few things now, you can help avoid problems later.

It starts with what you choose to put on websites. Sharing on the Web can be fun and productive. But it could also cause problems. So, it's up to you to think about the people in the photo or story, including yourself, before you share it. Would you want your grandfather to see this photo? Or a future boss? Once you click, you lose control of who can see the photo on the Web. This means your friends have to depend on you to take responsibility for the images, stories, and videos you share on the Web.

Luckily, you don't have to share everything publicly. Find ways to share your life privately without having it scanned by search engines. And be careful using people's names - names are easy for search engines to scan.

Another step is asking your friends to think about what they share on the Web. Let them know that, from now on, you're going to take responsibility. Talk about the risks and what photos could do in the future. Agree to think before you click. This way, you can act goofy today and still have the respect you deserve tomorrow.

Of course, you can't control everything on the Web. If you feel your reputation is at risk, you can take action. Contact the person who posted it and ask them to remove it - they should understand. Taking action today can make it harder to find in the future.

Sharing your life online can be fun and productive, but it can also mean losing some control. You have a responsibility to help protect your reputation and the reputations of those around you. Think before you click.

Julia’s dream is to make a living as a photographer. In this dream, she takes amazing photos, people buy them, and their purchases fund her future work.

But it’s not that simple. Julia wants to publish some of her photos to help spread the word, but she’s concerned because photos are easy to copy. She could lose control and not be able to make a living from her talent.

So she does some research and learns that in the U.S., as with other countries, we have laws that give creators of materials like books, images, movies, artwork and music a way to own and protect their creations. It’s called copyright law. Owning the copyright means having the exclusive right to manage and sell the material.

And she’s surprised to find that when she creates photos, she owns the copyright to them automatically, without taking any other action. Though she can always register them with the U.S. Copyright office for good measure.

She likes being covered by copyright law, but it limits her exposure, because her permission is required for sharing a photo. She needs a way to make some of her photos more sharable.

Her research leads her to Creative Commons, which is a set of licenses that she can use to make her copyrighted photos free for sharing.

By licensing specific photos with a Creative Commons license, she doesn’t have to approve each person’s request for sharing, as long as a few simple rules are followed. She chooses a license that requires the user to provide attribution, or credit for her work, and to be non-commercially.

Using Creative Commons means she retains some rights while her photos and name have the potential to be seen by many more people because they can be shared for free.

After considering the options, Julia decides to license a few photos with Creative Commons, and use copyright with “all rights reserved” for the rest of her portfolio because it will be important for her goals. So she adds copyright information, which includes the year the photo was first taken and her name, wherever those photos appear.

Across the country, Kelly needs a travel photo for his magazine article. He searches, and finds a nice one online and notes a Creative Commons license and Julia’s name. His use is commercial, so he visits her site and finds more photos that fit his needs.

The one he wants is marked “all right reserved”, so to avoid copyright infringement and potential legal issues, he contacts Julia who gives him permission to use the photo in exchange for a license fee. This way, Kelly can use the photo in his magazine and Julia can build her career.

Both Kelly and Julia understand that ownership and proper use of materials can be difficult to navigate, especially because the Web is global and copyright laws can vary by country.

So here are a few things they always consider...

When they see a copyright symbol or notice, they ask the creator about proper use. And they still ask even if they don’t see a symbol.

When they see Creative Commons licenses like these, they know they can share the material for free, as long as they follow the rules of the license, found at creativecommons.org.

Both copyright and Creative Commons are important parts of a system that come with a responsibility to follow rules, rules that support the future work of people and organizations who can make our world a better place.