Powerpoint Prestation. "ROME"

The internet is a very valuable tool for locating data to include in a research paper. However,

most students go to Google, type their topic in the search box, receive millions of “hits”, and to

avoid spending numerous hours in front of the computer screen they choose the first “hit” from

their search results. Often, this may lead you to a website that is not appropriate for academic

purposes, such as: Wikipedia, about.com, BlogSpot, etc. Just like searching the library

databases effectively, you need your narrow topic to conduct a “Boolean” search of the internet

using the Google search engine to limit your “hits” to websites that contain the keywords in your

narrow topic. But, instead of using “and” between your keywords you type your narrow topic in

quotation marks alongside your general topic. For example, if my narrow topic is: How can

prisons reduce the cost of inmate medical care? I would type the following keywords into the

Google search box: “inmate medical care” reduce cost. My general topic is cost reduction, but

my narrow topic is inmate medical care, therefore only the words inmate medical care is placed

in quotation marks. The quotation marks tell the Google search engine to limit your results to

only websites that contain the keywords for your narrow topic.

The Boolean search solves the problem of limiting your “hits” to websites that only pertain to

your narrow topic, but you now need to evaluate the websites for their content. Many students

are familiar with a URL (website address that contains www); however you must also become

familiar with domain names (.com, .net, .edu, .gov, .mil, .org) that provide important information

about the purpose of the website. For example a .com or a .net domain tells you that the website

is for commercial purposes, a .edu domain tells you that the website is connected to an

educational institution, a .gov domain tells you that the website is affiliated to a government

(local, state, federal), a .mil domain is connected to a branch of the military, and a .org domain is

affiliated with an organization. Domain names are one step to help you evaluate a website’s

content. If the purpose of the site is commercial (.com domain) then you know the purpose of

the site is to sell you something and therefore you should not waste your time viewing its content

for your research project. Since educational and government websites (.edu & .gov domains) are

connected to a university/college or a branch of government then you know the purpose of these

types of institutions are to share knowledge so it may contain content that is appropriate for your

research project.

The websites that contain a .org domain name is where students experience problems with

content. While a .org is affiliated with an organization and is not commercial you have to

evaluate its content a little more closely. While the .org site is not trying to sell you anything its

purpose is often to inform, but can also try to persuade you to buy into their agenda and can

sometimes be biased. There is nothing wrong with persuasion as long as the author/owner of the

website provides you the other side’s point of view / addresses the opposition. For example, if

you were writing a research paper on: Does racial disparity effect death sentences? And you

visited the www.familiesofdeathrowinmates.org website the information may be biased because

the site’s owners have a personal interest in death sentence reform since their loved ones are

awaiting execution. Therefore, the purpose of this site is to inform and persuade you to take

action/change your opinion. While the site may provide information on racial inequality about

people serving on death row they often don’t include expert testimony/research and don’t

provide any information about where they get the information they include on the website.

However, if you visited the www.deathpenaltyinfo.org website the content includes information

in the form of research studies and statistics written by legal scholars and educational experts.

They also document and provide links to their sources so that you can verify the information.

While this site’s purpose is also to provide information and persuasion it does so with fact, not

opinion and therefore the information from this site can be included in your research project.

If you are unsure if the .org website you are viewing contains unbiased material then you should

perform a Google search of the author’s name. The results provide you with some insight into

his/her background such as: their expertise/affiliation (are they faculty members of a college?

security directors? former warden of a correctional facility? a prosecutor/attorney), educational

credentials (MSW, PhD, JD) and other articles published (and for whom?). You are

contemplating a career in criminal justice – get use to doing some investigative work!!

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the data provided in a research paper is accurate and

appropriate for academic purposed. To help you achieve this goal I have written a checklist to

help guide you in evaluating websites. Use the checklist this semester while conducting your

research and these methods for evaluation will become second nature – helping you for ALL

your academic purposes.