CMI 330 Pastoral Care and Counseling: Internet Sources

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Google Advanced Search - Provides more options for your search strategy.
Google Advanced Scholar Search - Search for scholarly articles.
Google Advanced Book Search - Search for books on your topic.
Zuula - A meta-search engine that searches more than one search engine at a time.  Note the advanced search link.

Here are some examples of types of helpful internet resources.  Place the cursor over the link for web site's content discription.

Disclaimer: Websites are listed for informational purposes only, and are not an endorsement of content.

Once you find a source you are thinking of using in a paper, ask yourself the following questions:

1.    Who wrote this? 

Whether the author is a person or a company, someone is responsible for the information you found.  Why should you trust them?  Would someone else be able to provide more reliable information on your topic?

2.    Where did the info on this site come from?

Especially when facts or statistics are provided, it’s important to know where they came from.  Does the website cite its sources?  Does the informationon this site make sense when compared to other information you’ve gathered?

3.    Why was it written? 

It costs time and money to produce information. Why did the author or sponsor of this site think it was worth that investment?  What do they want to accomplish?

4.    When was it written?

For many research topics, using very current information is essential.  If you can’t tell when it was written, consider finding another source.

5.    Who was it written for?

Think about the intended audience of the website.  Is the presentation of the material appropriate for a college-level student researcher?  Is it thorough?

Checklist

Use this checklist to do a basic evaluation of the information you’ve found online.  The checklist is not a substitute for thinking carefully about whether the site you found meets your needs effectively, but it may help you get started.  Talk to a librarian or to your professor if you need help answering some of these questions.