McGraw-Hill Public Speaking

• Locating and evaluating resources
• Locating online resources
• Special considerations for evaluating online resources
• Locating library resources
• General guidelines for evaluating resources
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Include a variety of sources, such as newspapers, periodicals, online articles, books, and interviews. Check out the pages on locating library resources and locating online resources.

Locating library resources

Use electronic card catalogs, cd-rom and online databases, and traditional indexes to find books and periodicals about your topic. Use specialized databases to target your search.

Locating online resources

Use search engines and meta search tools to locate web pages that address your topic.

General guidelines for evaluating resources

Not all sources are of equal quality. Sources should be comprehensive, authoritative, objective, and up-to-date.

Sponsorship. Use resources from reputable, unbiased sources.

Authority. Use resources written by knowledgeable, qualified authors.

Currency. Use up-to-date resources.

Coverage. Use sources that provide an in-depth treatment of the topic.

Accuracy. Use sources that include verifiable information and clearly stated, appropriate research methods.

Special considerations for evaluating online resources

The same general rules apply to evaluating traditional and online sources. However, some evaluation techniques are specific to web documents. Learn techniques for applying the standard considerations of sponsorship, authority, currency, coverage and accuracy to web-based resources. Distinguish high-quality sources from low-quality sources.