*The Research Process: A Guide for GWC Students

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!