The Research Process

Internet research can be an important part of finding good quality resources for your UDST assignments, BUT it is important to remember that not everything you find online is reliable. Always use the CRAAP test to evaluate information that you find online!!!! 

A Word About Wikipedia

Wikipedia can be a great source of general, background information for many topics. It can be a useful tool in helping you to define and understand your research topic. But Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone - not necessarily an expert on the topic - so the information may not be reliable, and should always be checked in reputable sources such as journals and books. 

Google Scholar allows you to search for (usually) scholarly information in journals, books and more, through the familiar Google interface.

Searching Google Scholar will return a list of citations. It is important to remember that:

1. Many of your search results will not be available to read online. Full text is available only if:
   • We have access to the article or book in the UDST Library. If we have access to the full text, you will see Find at CNA-Q to the right of the citation, if you are searching on campus, or have set your Google Scholar preferences, off campus, to include our library
   • The item is open access / freely available
   • The author has made the item available on another website.
2. There are few options for limiting or narrowing your search results. For example, you cannot limit by publication type.
3. Not all of the journals indexed by Google Scholar are reputable, and results may also include unpublished materials, PowerPoint presentations, etc...