Research Smarts

Which organization's website would end in .gov?

• The vice president's official website

• A city mayor's office

• A political news show

• A health care company

Who of these would be the most trustworthy author of a blog about the American Revolution?

• A collector of Civil War memorabilia

• A college history professor

• A tour guide at a national park

• A college student

An informed opinion must be:

• Biased and emotional

• Completely fair to everyone

• Supported by facts and reasoning

• Formed within the past year

To determine the reliability of an unfamiliar site, you should look into the:

• Publication date and number of pages

• Privacy policy

• Publisher, author, and content

• Overall design, including images and text fonts

"What is World War I?" is not a good question to research because...

• It's not relevant to the topic of wars.

• There aren't many sources of information on this topic.

• It's too difficult to answer.

• It's not specific enough and will be overwhelming to research.

A bibliography is a list of _____ used in a research project.

• Sources

• Subheadings

• Search terms

• Research questions

The following are examples of sources, except:

• A photograph

• A written letter

• An interview

• A table of contents

In addition to online research, library research is recommended because:

• Libraries provide internet access

• Not all sources can be found online

• Librarians do not use the internet

• Books are better sources than the internet

Citations allow users to ________ information in an online source.

• Support

• Fact-check

• Change

• Argue

Compared to most of your research, the "pre-search" phase is much more...

• Broad. Your topic is bigger as you begin to narrow it down.

• Specific. You are fine-tuning your research.

• Serious. You know exactly what you're looking for and you will find it.

• Interesting. This is where the bulk of your ideas come from.