HIST 2630 - Historical Methods: Find Reliable Internet Sources
Finding Internet Resources
Use Google Advanced Search to perform targeted searches of the Internet.
Because Google likes to keep its main search page as simple as possible, there is no quick way to access Advanced Search from the default Google page. To access Advanced Search, click on the "Settings" link on the right side of the homepage. If you plan on using Advanced Search often, you may want to bookmark the URL: http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Google Scholar provides access to scholarly articles and conference papers, many of them available online as PDF files.
If you're logged in to your MyGeorgiaSouthern account and search Google Scholar, you'll be able to access journal articles through library databases (such as JSTOR). NOTE: Do not pay to get the full text of any article. If you can't find the full text, please ask the library for help.
Domain types give insight into the type of website you are visiting. For example, only state and federal governmental sites get to end with .gov and only educational websites get to end with .edu. Anyone can make an .org, .com or .net website.
| com - commercial | org - nonprofit organization |
| edu - educational | net - community network |
| gov - government | mil - military |
The domain suffix might also give you a clue about the geographic origin of a web site, each country also has a unique domain suffix that is meant to be used for websites within the country. For example, Brazilian websites may use the ".br" domain suffix, Chinese websites may use the ".cn" suffix, and Australian websites may use the ".au" suffix.
How To: Cited By Searches in Google
Google Scholar also tracks how many times an item is cited by other documents in Google Scholar. Since Google Scholar includes all sorts of scholarly works, including Google Books, this can be a great resource for tracking citations forward. Particularly in fields of study that rely on books to a greater degree than journal articles (such as many humanities disciplines), you may find very different results in Google Scholar compared to Web of Science.
1. To begin, search for your item in Google Scholar using words from the title, the author, etc. You can click on the small downward triangle near the search button (magnifying glass) to get an advanced search screen.
2. The results will be ranked by relevance, with matching titles closer to the top. Beneath each entry, you will see a link that says 'Cited by ...' and a number. Look carefully, as there may be more than one entry matching your search. Often there will be a separate entry with [Citation] at the beginning of the title, indicating it is ONLY in Google Scholar as a citation. Both types of entries are useful for tracing citations forward.
3. Clicking on "Cited by ..." will bring up a list of citing documents in Google Scholar. These are arranged with the most highly cited works at the top. To locate a copy of these works, you can look for [PDF] links on the right, or links to Find it @ Georgia Southern University to the right or below each citation.
4. You can further narrow you search by searching within the citing articles. Just check the box below the search box, and enter your search. The results will be a subset of the citing articles identified above.
Evaluating Online Resources
We all know there is a wealth of information available on the Internet. The problem with searching for information on the Internet is that we don't always know where it comes from and whether or not it is authoritative. It is important to be selective and to evaluate the information you find online. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions you can ask yourself in order to determine if the information on a web site is reliable. CRAAP is an acronym for:
Currency - Is the material current? Does it contain outdated or disproven information? Is the site maintained regularly?
Relevance - Is the material relevant to your question?
Author - Who wrote the content? What are the author's qualifications? Is there a way to contact the author?
Accuracy - How accurate is the information? What evidence does the author use? Does the author cite sources?
Purpose - What is the purpose of the content? Is the content objective or biased?
Looking for online collections?
While researching unpublished materials often requires a physical visit, many institutions will digitized materials and make them available online.
Visit the "Find Primary Sources" tab on this LibGuide for a list of suggested American, European, and World Digital Collections.