LibGuides: Geological Sciences Library Guide: Evaluating websites

Internet Resources

A large amount of information that may be of interest to geological science is available on the internet. There is a list of subject specific sites for Geological Sciences. When using the internet resources, you need to be cautious, as most websites do not undergo peer review. It is therefore important to evaluate the website that you get your information from.

Searching the Internet

For tips on searching the internet, try this website:

Virtual Training Suite
A set of free Internet tutorials to help you develop Internet research skllls for your university course
All tutorials are written and reviewed by a national team of lecturers and librarians from universities across the UK
more...less...
These interactive, teach-yourself tutorials take around an hour to complete. Simply work through the material in your own time at your own pace.

Evaluating a web site

How does one evaluate a website? How does one make sure that the website one is getting information from is reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective or current? Find the answers to these and other questions from the following sites:

Evaluating information sources
Evaluating information sources on the Internet. Johns Hopkins University.
Evaluating websites
Libguide community site
Evaluating web pages
Techniques to apply and questions to ask. UC Berkeley Library.
more...less...
Evaluating web pages skillfully requires you to do two things at once:
Train your eye and your fingers to employ a series of techniques that help you quickly find what you need to know about web pages;
Train your mind to think critically, even suspiciously, by asking a series of questions that will help you decide how much a web page is to be trusted.
Evaluating Web Sites
Criteria and tools for evaluating web sites. Cornell University Library.
more...less...
Context: The Primary Factor
Evaluation Criteria
Online Selection Examples: Subject Portals
Webliography
Information Literacy
A students' resource to learn how to master information challenges. UCT Libraries Marilyn Smith.
more...less...
This website will show you:
1. How to start the search process
2. How to find information
3. How to evaluate a web site
4. Information on plagiarism and copyright
5. How to write / present your report

"Invisible" or "Deep" Web searching

There is a vast amount of information on the world wide web that cannot be found using general purpose search engines like Google. General purpose search engines provide only the tip of the iceberg of what is available on the web. There are alternatives to general purpose search engines:

Subject Specific Search Engines - see link Science below.
Subject Directories - see links to INFOMINE, Librarians Internet Index and DMOZ below.
Search Engines that will search the invisible web - see link to CompletePlanet below.
Semantic Search Engines - See link to Wolfram Alpha below.

Subject Specific Search Engine: Science
Science.gov searches over 40 databases and 1,950 selected websites, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information, including research and development results.
more...less...
Explore Selected Science Websites by Topic
Subject Directory: INFOMINE
Provides scholarly internet resource collections.
more...less...
Browse or search by subject category.
Subject Directory: Librarian's Internet Index
One of the best known general directories on the web.
more...less...
"Librarians' Internet Index (LII) is a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, the nation, and the world." For more information see: http://www.lii.org/pub/htdocs/about_overview.htm
Subject Directory: DMOZ
The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.
more...less...
"The web continues to grow at staggering rates. Automated search engines are increasingly unable to turn up useful results to search queries. The small paid editorial staffs at commercial directory sites can't keep up with submissions, and the quality and comprehensiveness of their directories has suffered. Link rot is setting in and they can't keep pace with the growth of the Internet." For more information see: http://www.dmoz.org/about.html
Search Engines that will search the Invisible Web: CompletePlanet
Discover over 70,000+ searchable databases and specialty search engines.
more...less...
"There are hundreds of thousands of databases that contain Deep Web content. CompletePlanet is the front door to these Deep Web databases on the Web and to the thousands of regular search engines — it is the first step in trying to find highly topical information. By tracing through CompletePlanet's subject structure or searching Deep Web sites, you can go to various topic areas, such as energy or agriculture or food or medicine, and find rich content sites not accessible using conventional search engines." For more information see: http://aip.completeplanet.com/aip-engines/aboutcp.jsp
Semantic Search Engine: Wolfram Alpha
Today's Wolfram Alpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.
Wolfram|Alpha is an engine for computing answers and providing knowledge.
It works by using its vast store of expert-level knowledge and algorithms to automatically answer questions, do analysis, and generate reports.
more...less...
Enter your question or calculation and Wolfram Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer. Based on a new kind of knowledge-based computing...
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine, not a search engine.
WOLFRAM|ALPHA uses built-in knowledge curated by human experts to compute on the fly a specific answer and analysis for every query.

What is a semantic search engine? See http://www.semanticsearchengine.org/

How to conduct research

There are also websites that can assist you in doing your research. The following website provides a step-by-step guide into how to conduct your research, from choosing a topic to writing up your work:

How to conduct research
How to get started in science, reviewing literature, planning your research, step by step statistics, writing scientifically, presenting science, going professional and How do I....?
University of Reading, UK.
more...less...
The interactive resource for bioscience students
This web site has been designed to help science undergraduate students with advice and assistance on the most important aspects of scientific research you'll be involved in. Whether you're interested in research in general and want more information, or you're struggling with statistical analyses, you'll find the information here. You'll also find worked examples, exercises with answers, help sheets and quick quizzes to help you gauge your understanding.

Use the main entries in the menu on the left hand side to guide you through the process of research. If you're after some quick advice on a particular aspect, such as how to write a report, check out the How Do I..? section for downloadable hints and tips.

Work SMART

Always evaluate the information you read. Be particularly careful when consulting Wikipedia and similar internet sites as the authority and reliability of the content cannot be guaranteed. Remember to work SMART:

Source - is the source well known, reliable, up to date?

Motivation - why does this site exist? Are they selling a product? Supporting a particular lobby?

Authority - is the author's name on the page? Is the author well known in the field?

Review - has the information been reviewed/checked by others working in the field?

Two sources - is the information supported by other reliable sources?

The databases we subscribe to generally index articles that have been peer reviewed by experts in the field before being accepted for publication.