English 100: Freshman Composition

When doing research, it is important to find information that is reliable, accurate, and appropriate for your assignment.

Some assignments may require you to use or limit certain sources such as:

• primary or secondary sources,
• specific types of periodicals, and/or
• Websites.

In all cases, you should evaluate the information before you use it in your assignments.

Knowing how to evaluate information can help you with research assignments as well as bigger life decisions. 

Knowing how to find relevant and accurate information can help you make informed decisions about graduate school, a new car purchase, financial aid, jobs, your health, and more.

For many students, their first impulse when they get a research assignment is to search Google.

Although websites can give you valuable information about the nature of your topic, in most cases, they should be cited sparingly in your final research paper. At the college level, most of your cited sources should come from journals, magazines, and books. As you progress in your college career, you will be using journals more and more. It's best to start getting familiar with library research now and break yourself of the habit of relying only on the open web.

Practice 'Lateral Reading' when deciding on the credibility of information on the open web.

Definition: Lateral reading is a skill used to jump outside of a source and use new browser tabs to seek additional information about a source's credibility, reputation, funding sources, and biases.

Please review this short video (3 min+) to review this concept which is a must for all researchers - whether for a college essay or personal information!