Evaluating Information Myths
Our information landscape changes quickly and some things that were true are now not so black and white. To help you become more savvy with your information sources here are some myths about information evaluation.
Myth: The best resources come from .gov, .org, and .edu domains.
Reality: Only the .edu and .gov domain names are limited to certain groups.
- The .edu domain use is limited to accredited post-secondary education institutions
- The .gov domain use is limited to U.S. government entities (federal, state, and local)
- The .org domain is intended for non-profit entities, but anyone can register for one
Myth: You should avoid .com websites as sources since it means commercial.
Reality: Lots of good sources could be a .com domain.
- Academic journal publishers with open access (free) research articles
- Library Resources
- News Sources
Myth: You should avoid the crowd-sourced Wikipedia at all costs.
Reality: Wikipedia can be a great source when beginning a project, but it is an encyclopedia. Encyclopedia are usually too general to use as sources for college-level research. You CAN use it to:
- Learn more about a topic including terminology that can be useful as search terms.
- Use it to evaluate the sources you want to use in your paper. It can tell you of any controversies and other issues with an academic journal and the biases in news sources.
Myth: If the word journal is in the title, it is an academic journal.
Reality: Anyone can use the world journal in the title, you need to look up information about the resource.
- Predatory journals will publish papers for a price
- You can use Wikipedia or Google to find out what others say about an information source
- Ask a librarian or your instructor if you are uncertain
