Section VI. Questions about citing digital sources

1. a. Wikipedia is not considered by the scholarly community as an appropriate stand-alone source for assertions Incorrect Answer
2. b. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is largely written and edited by volunteers Incorrect Answer
3. c. In general, the more popular or current the topic, the less likely bias or even falsehoods will occur in Wikipedia entries Correct Answer
4. d. Wikipedia could be cited to demonstrate a popular conception of a particular topic among those who are interested in that topic Incorrect Answer
5. e. A good use of Wikipedia by the serious analyst is to use entries at the outset of a research project to get a version of what is being said about a particular topic and to identify possible sources for further assessment Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is c. In general, the more popular or current the topic, the less likely bias or even falsehoods will occur in Wikipedia entries.

Wikipedia is a good resource to gather general information about a topic that you will want to verify subsequently, or learn new search terms for your research, but you should not use Wikipedia as a stand-alone source.  You should be especially cautious about entries that are on current political or controversial topics, organizations or people.

Another good use of Wikipedia is to follow the links and resources listed under References at the bottom of the page. Also, as with any source, the best way to guard against bias is to use multiple reputable sources in order to be sure of your facts and assertions and, additionally, to use your own good judgment.

Academic journal (blind, peer-reviewed) and university press books are generally considered to provide the most reliable and valid information on a topic.

Here is Valdosta State University's explanation of peer review [at http://www.valdosta.edu/library/learn/peerreview.shtml, accessed 10/14/2001]::

What is "peer review"?

"Peer review" (or "refereed") means that an article is reviewed by experts in that field before the article gets published. This means that if a scientist writes an article on stem cells, other experts on stem cells will review the article to make sure it's of high enough quality to be published.  The peer review (or referee) process insures that the research described in a journal's articles is sound and of high quality.

Also, peer review can be single-blind (meaning that the reviewers know who wrote the article), or double-blind (meaning that the reviewers do not know who wrote the article). Double-blind peer review is designed to increase objectivity in the review process.

Despite the strength of peer reviewed materials, different sources should be used for different purposes. For example, a trade journal (that is, an industry-sponsored or –focused and not peer-reviewed journal) might provide some important state-of-the-art technical information but would likely be a poor source for balanced information on the misdeeds of the industry (or trade) covered by that magazine.

For more information about the appropriate way to use Wikipedia in your research see the InfoGuide on the GMU library website (http://infoguides.gmu.edu/content.php?pid=211098&sid=1756910) or Wikipedia's entry on researching with their website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia).

1. a. For absolutely up-to-the-moment information about closed societies, blogs and tweets can provide insight into those societies for the serious analyst Incorrect Answer
2. b. Blogs might be used by the serious analyst to show what some people are saying about a particular topic Incorrect Answer
3. c. Blogs and tweets should not be used to establish factual information Incorrect Answer
4. d. All of the above Correct Answer
5. e. None of the above Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is d. All of the above.

In general, blogs and tweets are highly unreliable sources for assertions of fact or for balanced analysis. Nevertheless, blogs and tweets do have their uses, especially when other sources (for instance, about the immediate human impact of the 1998 cyclone in Burma) are unavailable. When using such sources, you should always indicate to the reader why you are employing them and how any information so obtained should be interpreted (that is, very cautiously and tentatively).

For more information on how to actually write a citation for blogs or Twitter in APA Style, see: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/10/how-to-cite-twitter-and-facebook-part-ii.html. For more information on how to write a citation for blogs or Twitter in MLA Style, see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/.

1. a. Google Books is a valuable source of information for finding useful quotations to use in your paper Incorrect Answer
2. b. You can use Google Books to double-check the exact name of the author, title and other publication information of the book you are citing Correct Answer
3. c. Generally, Google Books is not respected by serious analysts and hence should be used very sparingly Incorrect Answer
4. d. Google Books should be used often because it is more convenient than the library catalog Incorrect Answer
5. e. Google Books is an excellent resource in finding the most current and popular writings on a particular topic Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is b. You can use Google Books to double-check the exact name of the author, title and other publication information of the book you are citing.

In the ideal situation, you would have already have written down all of the bibliographic information for your sources when you originally read them.  However, if you find some information missing, you can check for it using Google Books. For example, if you find that you have the publisher’s name but not the place where the book was published, you can often find this missing information by searching for the book on Google Books and then looking at the copyright page of that book.  Nevertheless, using the library catalog is not only easy but it also offers author, title and other publication information all on one page, unlike Google Books.

For more information on how to use Google Books in your research see the Google Books website: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/midterms.html or the University of Virginia’s Library website: http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/press/uvagoogle/use.html

1. a. Google Scholar is a convenient place to begin your search for articles, journals and other sources for research Incorrect Answer
2. b. Google Scholar identifies academic sources but often provides only the abstracts of articles and not the articles themselves Incorrect Answer
3. c. Using Google Scholar is a good way to fill in missing elements of your journal citations, such as the journal's volume number for the articles you are citing Incorrect Answer
4. d. Generally, Google Scholar is not respected by serious analysts Correct Answer
5. e. Once Google Scholar has identified some articles that you may want to read on your research topic, the GMU Library’s resources can usually provide you the with full text of those articles Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is d. Generally, Google Scholar is not respected by serious analysts.

Google Scholar can be an excellent place to begin your search for scholarly writings (such as journal articles, books, conference papers, dissertations, and working papers), and it can effectively be used in conjunction with GMU Library resources. Google Scholar searches the Internet for scholarly or academic materials, but it may not give you the entire article or text that you will need. For example, your search may result in article abstracts and publication information, which you can then use to find the full texts through the GMU library system.

To search for full article texts in the GMU library system, use the GMU E-Journal Finder: http://library.gmu.edu/phpzone/ej.php.

For more information about how you can use Google Scholar in your research, you can visit the UCLA Library website: http://www.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm.

1. a. Yes Correct Answer
2. b. No Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is a. Yes.

The citations for print and online newspaper articles are written slightly differently, even if they refer to the same article. The most important reason for special treatment of websites is that the web version of an article can be and often is changed, whereas the print version is final.

Most online publications indicate when an article was originally published, and many indicate that changes have been made, although they may not explicitly write out what those changes were. One notable exception to this is the New York Times website, which indicates both when a particular article was originally published and clearly labels subsequent changes to that article. Other online publications may be less scrupulous in marking changes or even in providing the date of origin. For example, important words or even whole entries on the White House website may appear one day only to be significantly changed or evaporate altogether subsequently.

This mutability constitutes one reason that scholars and serious analysts eschew ephemeral websites or those with a political purpose or those that are not backed up by serious scholarship—other than to demonstrate the political content or to identify a particular point of view that is expressed in the selected website.

One other point you should note: Because of the fluidity of websites, most styles ask the writer to indicate in the bibliography when the writer accessed the information being cited. Hence, a good practice is to develop a formal practice for yourself to keep a dated record of any information you obtain from each website (e.g., in Zotero). When you copy articles from websites you should add to that copy the location of the website and the date that you accessed it.

For more information on newspaper article citations (online and in print), see the GMU Writing Center’s APA Style Guide Handout: http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources-template.php?id=4 and their MLA Style Guide Handout: http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources-template.php?id=5.

1. a. Online and print citations of the same article should never be identical Correct Answer
2. b. If the article was never changed after the print edition, the citations will be identical Incorrect Answer
3. c. When the print and online articles are both published on the same day, the citations will be identical Incorrect Answer
4. d. If the changes to the online article were also later published in the print edition, the citations will be identical Incorrect Answer
5. e. When you are using both articles in your research, the citations will be identical Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is a. Online and print citations of the same article should never be identical.

If both sources are used, both must be separately cited, as follows:

(Malkin 2009a) [for the print version]

(Malkin 2009b) [for the online version]

Note that the full citation in the bibliography makes clear the difference between these two sources, as follows in APA style:
Malkin, E. (2009a, September 28). Honduras Bars Diplomats as Political Crisis Grows. The New York Times, p. A4.

---. (2009b, September 28). Honduras Bars Diplomats as Political Crisis Grows. The New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/world/americas/28honduras.html?ref=americas.

By citing the web address, you are alerting the reader that the version you read may have since been changed. Note, also, the form you use when you have two different articles by the same author published in the same year: 2009a and 2009b.