This is a workshop for Purdue University Calumet's Writing Center on how to find credible sources. It involves using different search databases, limiting your search options, and evaluating sources found to choose only academic sources.
3. Go to webs.purduecal.edu/library to begin
your search
From the main library website, you can search
for books and view the library hours of
operation
4.
5. Narrow and focus your search to reflect
specific media and availability
You will see the location of material in the
physical library based on Library of Congress
Call Numbers
6.
7.
8. Searching the library’s physical contents will give you:
◦ Academic sources and their availability
◦ Non-academic sources
You will still need to evaluate any books or media
before using to make sure they’re academic
Academic databases (EBSCOhost, ERIC, PubMed, etc.)
will also provide you with academic sources
Google will not necessarily provide academic sources
but will provide electronic sources (i.e. websites)
10. To use PULSE or search databases, scroll
down on the library’s main website to view
additional options
To look for databases by name, select
“Alphabetically” under the Databases section
11.
12. To access databases from an off-campus
location, enter your login and password when
prompted
This login and password is the same you use
to access campus computers
16. Type in your search terms like with Google & PULSE
Before you begin searching, limit your searches to:
◦ Full-text
◦ Peer-reviewed articles
◦ Published within the past 5 years
The period of time may vary depending on
instructor/course, but is generally from 5-10 years
17. After you have set your search limits,
you may begin your search.
19. Peer-reviewed – others within the field have
reviewed the article and its information and have
vouched for its accuracy
◦ Using peer-reviewed sources means you’re not
spreading what may be false information. These are the
best sources
Full text – you’ll only receive results that have the
full text article available
◦ You may get abstracts or summaries, which aren’t
helpful, if you don’t choose this option.
20. Limiting your dates to the past 5 years helps
assure you the research is current
With some topics, going back 10 years can be
helpful for historical context
More scientific topics require more recent
research
◦ Ex: Cell-based research has grown exponentially since
the 1980s, and any information beyond 5 years may not
be accurate.
21. Using Boolean operators with your search
terms will help you
◦ Narrow your search
◦ Find more relevant, useful resources
◦ Ex: AND, OR, NOT, etc.
22. AND narrows your search
◦ Cookies AND milk will retrieve records which contain
both the words cookies and milk
NOT narrows your search
◦ Chocolate NOT cake will retrieve records which contain
the term chocolate but not cake
OR broadens your search:
◦ Caffeine OR coffee will retrieve records which contain
either caffeine or coffee
23.
24.
25.
26. “Nesting” – the use of parentheses to put your
search terms into sets.
Ex: success AND (education OR employment) will
retrieve records with the word “success” and the
word “education” or the word “employment.”
In other words, for a result to be returned, it
MUST contain the word “success.” It MUST also
contain either the word “education” OR the word
“employment.”
27. Nesting is often used when search terms have
similar meanings
◦ Ex: education AND (employment OR jobs)
You can also create nesting within nesting
◦ EX: (driving AND (texting OR distraction OR distracted))
NOT (alcohol OR “drunk driving”)
◦ Ex:(teenager OR adolescent) AND (media OR movie OR
TV) AND ((“eating disorder” OR bulimia OR anorexia)
NOT (“drug use” OR “substance abuse”))
28. Stop words – commonly used words that will
stop a keyword search because they occur
too frequently in records.
◦ Common stop words: the, an, at, for, from, then.
When constructing a keyword search, choose
the most important words.
29. Research question: “What are the effects of
Global Warming on agriculture?”
Keywords: global warming, effects, agriculture.
◦ The words “what,” “is,” “of,” and “the” are not descriptive
of your topic.
Search phrase: global warming AND (effects AND
agriculture)
When constructing a keyword search, choose the
most important words.
30. Research question “How can we prevent teen
suicide?”
Keywords: prevent, teen, suicide.
◦ The words “how,” “can,” and “we” are not descriptive
of your topic.
Search phrase: “suicide prevention” AND
(teenager OR adolescent)
32. Academic sources - peer-reviewed journals and
articles found in academic databases
Books written by professionals within their
respective fields may also be academic
◦ If the author has “Dr.” or “Ph.D.” attached to her or his
name, the source is probably academic.
Many books compiled by an editor (except fiction
anthologies) can also be academic sources
33. Writers of pseudo-academic articles rarely have academic
credentials or a degree in the subject they’re reporting but
usually have a background in writing.
The sources generally make an effort to do their fact-
checking, but articles are not peer-reviewed and can make
mistakes or misinform.
Pseudo-academic sources can be:
◦ Respectable news periodicals
◦ Government and some organization websites
◦ best used for information on recent events
34. These can show up on academic databases,
so limit your search to peer-reviewed,
scholarly journals.
Use pseudo-academic sources sparing, if
ever, in academic papers, and only when
inserting real-time news on current events.
35. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal
newspapers
Time, U. S. News and World Report, and
Newsweek magazines
Websites such as inhalants.org, norml.org,
and www.uhcan.org are examples.
36. Be wary of most websites unless you can prove
the site’s credible authorship
Websites with .com, .net, and .org can be
purchased by anyone
Websites with .gov are exclusively published by
the government and often offer useful statistical
and legal information
Websites, regardless of how reliable the
information, should never take the place of
academic articles/books
37. Articles found in popular periodicals
◦ Ex.: People magazine, the Northwest Indiana Times
newspaper
Sacred or religious texts: The Bible, the Qur’an,
etc.
Abstracts
Book reviews (even if the review is of an
academic book)
38. Most introductions to fictional works
(regardless of where they are published)
Movies and TV shows
Wikipedia
39. Indiana residents may register for inspire.net,
which will provide a password (for free) to
access many full-text articles from home.
INSPIRE offers the use of EbscoHost (the same
as Academic Search Premiere).
