ENG 102 Advanced Research Library Tutorial 2021-2022: 2. Locating Sources for Research

Could you be stuck in a filter bubble? 

Websites and companies can track your searches and all of your online habits and then provide "personalized" results. These are called filter, or information, bubbles. Search engines and commercial websites rely on sophisticated algorithms to determine what you want to see. This can also lead you to getting your information from limited sources, potentially leading you to have a narrowed intake of news and perspectives about what is happening in the world. While it's impossible to stay offline indefinitely, there are some actions you can take. 

1. Consider using ad-blocking browser extensions or use a browser that provides more protection.

2. Regularly delete your browsing history and cookies, or search incognito (private browsing) to limit the data companies collect. 

3. Check your social media account settings to see what you are sharing with advertisers. But, even though you may opt out of seeing ads on Facebook, your habits will still be tracked. 

4. Make an effort to find news from a variety of sources to view and consider different viewpoiints. Many news organizations are prone to implicit bias and will present current events in different lights or emphasize certain current events over others. This can lead viewers or readers to be led to think in a certain way if they aren't careful to explore topics or issues further. Recognize when "news" is being presented with opinion or when only one side of an issue is presented. 

5. Try to find sources that focus more on education versus entertainment. These sources will be more likely to use and cite sources for further research. Try to locate each website's mission statement and contact information - a lack of these elements can be a red flag about its reliability. 

What AREN'T you seeing online? 

For more information about filter bubbles and how to "pop" them, watch this TED talk! 

According to a paper publshed in 1999, Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger determined that people often over-estimate their abilities and expertise based on their experiences and education. They called this the Dunning-Kruger Effect (read about the study here). 

The Dunning-Kruger Effect can be applied to information seeking skills. While everyone can search online for information, not everyone has the ability to OBJECTIVELY and EFFECTIVELY sort out results or to locate the most appropriate sources in this way. Your librarians can help! Using library databases for more scholarly, authoritative resources and becoming more aware of bias in search results can help you evaluate online sources more critically. Information seeking skills are lifelong skills you must continually develop to stay vigilant against misinformation! 

In ENG 101, you learned some basic search strategies to employ within library databases and online, including: 

• Identify specific keywords, terminology or phrases related to your research topic.
• Identify synonyms, or keywords or terms with similar meaning, i.e. babies and infants or car and sedan. 
• Use quotation marks ("") around phrases or titles to find results with a specific order of keywords, which avoids finding results that mays include only one keyword of the phrase in the search.
• Use truncation to find more results, i.e. comput* to find compute, computer, computers, computing, etc.
• Use Boolean searching to combine search terms, i.e. AND to find results with all keywords listed within the same record (narrowed results), OR to find results with any of the keywords in any record (more broad results), and NOT to eliminate certain keywords from the results (limiting). 
• Use parentheses to narrow searches, i.e. autism AND (symptoms OR diagnosis).

Here are more tips to help you dig deeper!

• Every database is structured differently and allows for different searching methods, although many may be similar. Look for the "Help" or "?" icon in each database or search interface to find out more about specific search tools and strategies you can use. These links are often located at the top of the website or in the top corners. 
• Use wildcards, which are similar to truncation, but allow you to search more flexibly. Often an asterisk is used in this type of search but the symbol(s) may vary by database. For example wh* would return results with why, what, where and when. Searching for recogni*e would find results with recognize and recognise. Check the "Help" or "?" in each database to learn more!
• If you look at the advanced searching in a database, you will see that it often allows you to chose which "field" or electronic place in each record, behind the scenes. For example, if you select "Author" as a search term from the advanced search menu, a database "knows" to look in the field, or place in each record being searched where the authors' names are located, specifically the indexes of those fields (like the index of a book) for speed and efficiency. Many databases pre-assign subjects to articles or other content and when you type in those keywords, the databases will show you results that are associated with those subjects. Some databases such as EBSCOhost use "field codes" that you can type in a search box to find certain records. For example, you might type SU therapy dogs and veterans to search for articles with those subjects. Or, you might search for AU Smith and Brown to look for articles written specifically by these authors. 

Data literacy is defined as a person who "...understands, explains, and documents the utility and limitations of data by becoming a critical consumer of data, controlling his/her personal data trail, finding meaning in data, and taking action based on data. The data-literate individual can identify, collect, evaluate, analyze, interpret, present and and protect data.” (Source: Dr. Donna Harp Ziegenfuss via EDC & IBM) 

As a student, incorporating data and statistics into your research requires you to find reliable sources for numbers to interpret and use as evidence to support your arguments and point of view. Citation of numbers is another important aspect of data literacy, as statistics may differ from one source to another due to collection methods, etc.. Seeking and analyzing data can support decisions we make every day and the actions we take as individuals. "Big data" impacts decisions made by businesses, government and many other organizations. You also need to consider how to organize your own data and protect it with your own naming conventions and passwords or passcodes, if necessary. 

When looking at data, also consider the following:

• Who created the data? Is their purpose for collecting data clear?
• Be careful about using data that could be collected or used out of context and use care with your methodology. Look at other data points, such as population numbers and percentages to make sure you are not using skewed data, or do your research laterally. 

Article for further reading:

• Interpreting basic data
• 3 questions to ask yourself next time you see a graph, chart or map

Below are a few suggested sources used to locate statistics for research projects.