Research Help

Introduction to Better Web Research

Finding credible information on the web is an essential skill for success in college, at work, and in your personal life. With so much information available from a simple search, you’ll need to develop strategies for ensuring that you’re evaluating everything that you look at and selecting the most credible and reliable information.

You can already easily search to find out what time your favourite store is open, or what movies are playing today at the nearby theatre. But when you did those searches, did you realize you’re evaluating as you go? In both cases, you’re automatically checking to make sure you’ve accessed a location geographically close to you, and that you’re viewing the store or theatre’s own website to make sure the content is up to date and valid.

When you search for information for an assignment, a work project, or your own personal knowledge, you need to continue to evaluate at every step. It’s becoming easier for anyone to post materials to the internet, and you’ve likely already seen examples of misinformation, fake or fraudulent websites, along with information that is fabricated. Many content creators are now using Generative A-I tools to create their content, which may introduce fabricated facts and data that will mislead you.

When asked to conduct research, it can be tempting to rely on Generative A-I tools yourself, since you can ask them to generate text or other output on a specific topic. While they might provide you with a useful starting point, these tools don’t always provide valid references or sources for the information generated – or they do so unreliably.

Some tools will give you a list of their sources, such as Google’s AI overview, which provides links to related websites along with a brief overview related to your search. Some tools may suggest resources on the web, which can be helpful. You’ll need to double check these sources to ensure they AI tool output is accurate, and the sources are real.

If you decide to use information generated or recommended by AI, you are responsible for visiting and verifying links and references provided, evaluating the content for credibility, and acknowledging the sources you use. For your academic work, always ensure your professor has approved the use of Generative A-I.

At work, you’ll need to make sure you’re clear on what resources are appropriate for the research or task you’ve been assigned. Remember, some organizations will have strict policies on A-I usage, while others may be encouraging A-I use, or even offering their own customized A-I tools. Make sure you are clear on expectations to avoid issues.

The consequences of using information that is not credible or appropriate for the task can be serious. At school, this could mean you don’t meet the expectations for your assignment, or even a breach of academic integrity.

At work, your research could contribute to key decisions for the company, where fake or misleading data or information could have a negative effect on the success of a particular product, campaign, or sales initiative. In your personal life, making decisions based on unreliable information can also be problematic.

Learning what types of web resources are likely to provide you with quality, relevant information will lead to better assignments at school. As with library research, you’ll need to read your assignment carefully to determine if specific resources are required. Be sure to ask your professor if you’re not sure.

For work related research and projects, you’ll need to be familiar with the types of websites, authors, and organizations that can provide credible and reliable information in your field.

Evaluate whatever you find, whether it’s from a search engine, an A-I powered tool, or a specific source in your field. Select credible tools and resources to advance your academic progress and establish yourself as a savvy, reliable researcher at work.

Watch the next two videos for an overview of suggestions on how to find and access better web content, as well as tips for evaluating what you find.

Need help? Check in with the Library and Learning Services Team.

Web Search Strategies

The Web may seem like a vast ocean when it comes to finding something you need. Thankfully, search engines can help turn oceans of information into small pools that make finding information easier.

Before we dive in, let’s talk a bit about how search works on the Web. Search engines go out and try to account for every word on every webpage. All this information is then organized for easy reference.

When you search for a word, the search engine finds all the pages where the word appears, and displays them in the search results. Usually the pages that appear highest in the search results have lots of other web pages linking to them. Each link acts a vote to say, “This may be a good resource.”

The problem is that there are often too many results. You need a way to reduce the number of results so you can find what you need. Let’s look at how this works.

Say you’re looking for a specific kind of fish, and these represent all the websites on the Web. Searching for FISH doesn’t help much. There are way too many results. You need to be more specific.

Try to imagine the exact fish and describe it in the search box. You’ll see that each word you use gets you closer to what you need. You can do this for any website by imagining the website that has your answer. What’s the title of the page? What words appear on it? If you put those words in the search box, you’ll get closer to finding answers.

But to be a smart searcher, you should know some basic shortcuts. Let’s say you’re looking for words that appear together, like a phrase or a quote. An example is a search for information on sand sharks. If you search for it like this, the search engine looks for pages with SAND and SHARKS. To get better results, put quotes around the words like this. It limits the results to the exact phrase.

Here’s another shortcut. Words often have multiple meanings. Consider the word MULLET which is both a fish and a hairstyle. A search for MULLET may give you a number of results about the hairstyle, but fewer about the fish.

To remove the results about hair, place a hyphen or minus sign just before the word you want to exclude, which means “show me the pages about mullet, but take away results relating to hair.” By being specific, and using words and symbols that remove useless information, you can find exactly what you need, and keep the Web from swallowing you whole.

Web Search Strategies © CommonCraft 

Getting to the Good Stuff: Accessing better web content

You can find lots of research-related material on the web. Information is added to and subtracted from the web every day, so it’s important to know the best types of web content for college-level research.

Let’s look at some categories of web resources that can often provide reliable information for your assignments.

Blog posts may be written by individuals or companies. They need to be reviewed carefully for bias. Blogs have typically been non-academic content but some scholars are now using them as a platform for publishing. Just make sure that you review the content carefully and ensure that it’s appropriate for your research.

Departments and agencies at the municipal, provincial, federal, and international levels of government use the web to communicate research and policies, which can be excellent resources. Often this is also the best place to find population-specific or geographically specific data.

Data sets can be found on many websites. Examine them for bias and determine where the data originally came from. Data sets may be broad or local in scope. Examples include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data sets, international travel data, or attendance numbers for local events.

Company websites have a known bias but may give access to reports that may not be available on other platforms. You can also access news releases, contact information, advertising, and product and service information.

Organizations, institutions, and professional associations are often large and well-organized. They have a known bias but can be great sources. They are excellent at communicating professional standards and practices. They may also have job boards specific to a field. Membership may be required in order to access all of their web material.

“Open access” content is available to everyone and is typically copyright cleared for use. The information may or may not be academic. It may be found on sites like Internet Archives, Creative Commons, or discipline-specific sites. Directories of some open access content can also be found.

Social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest are not academic sources. However, they may point you toward an academic source or indicate a trend.

Having a good search technique is essential to locating web material efficiently and effectively.

You may want to get familiar with one or two search engines and learn their tips and tricks. Google is the most widely used search engine and its Google Scholar platform can help you locate academic resources. But be warned: Google Scholar may ask you to pay for access to resources. The library may have those resources already in its collection, free for you to use.

Google is not the only search engine, and others may work better depending on your specific needs.

You can use web resources when it’s appropriate for your research and assignments. Just make sure that you seek out high quality information and have a specific search goal in mind.

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.