Rules for Scholarly Research on the Web

Rules for Scholarly Research on the Web

1.  Don’t Use Wikipedia (or similar websites that allow anyone to edit content)

2.  Avoid any Website that doesn’t have list an author

3.  Avoid mass media online encyclopedias

4.  Use objective sources that focus on factual information & avoid websites that are opinionated and/or biased

Helpful Tool for History Research:

http://www.besthistorysites.net/

Important Questions to Ask When You Evaluate a Website

Source: http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/websites.html

I.  Purpose:

·  What is the purpose of this website?

o  Is someone trying to sell something to you?

o  Is someone trying to persuade you about something?

o  Is the site factual or opinionated?

II: Source:

·  What is the source of the site?

o  Who mounted the information?

o  What credentials, authority or special knowledge does the author have?

III: Content Analysis:

·  Check for Accuracy

o  What is the source for the information?

o  Does it fit with other sources for the same information?

o  How do other (offline) sources complement the accuracy of this site?

·  Check for Comprehensiveness

o  What is the coverage of the site, chronologically and in terms of subject matter?

o  How do other (offline) sources complement this site?

·  Check for Currency

o  When was the site last updated?

·  Check for Hyperlinks:

o  Are the links relevant and appropriate?

o  Are there other, better, links for the topic?

IV: Style and Functionality:

·  Is the site well-organized?

o  Does the site contain errors of spelling and grammar?

o  Is it a usable site?

Citing Electronic Sources

Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)

Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:

·  Author and/or editor names (if available)

·  Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)

·  Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)

·  Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.

·  Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.

·  Take note of any page numbers (if available).

·  Date you accessed the material.

·  URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).

Use the following link for more detail:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

*Note: (Miss Clark requires the use of URLS)

Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e. they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g. on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.

For instructors or editors that still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.