EDPS 370 Field Experience Reflections

New this summer!  Search print books, ebooks, and articles from one search box.  After you have entered your search terms, use the sidebar to refine your search.

Advanced Google: An ordinary google search often brings back thousands of sites of no value in your coursework. Using Advanced Google is an easy way to boost the quality of your search results.  Advanced google search gives you options to focus your search to get better results faster.  You can:

• Specify the exact  phrase to be searched
• Limit by website or domain.  For example, by pasting  https://www.alberta.ca/education  search results will be limited to the Alberta Education website. You may also limit to by domain such as .org, .edu,  or .int (international organizations)
• Filter out explicit content
• Limit by file type.  Selecting the pdf file type retrieves files that have been composed as documents and then uploaded improves the quality of your results.   

 Anyone can publish anything on the web, unlike articles in library databases that have gone through editorial and or peer review for inclusion.  Consequently, you need to critically evaluate all websites before you rely on them.  You can find peer-reviewed journal articles, government websites, such as Alberta Education, dissertations, quick facts, and statistics. A website that passes muster on the following questions is likely to be reliable and trustworthy.

Website Questions

• Who is the author? Are their qualifications and institutional affiliation stated?
• Who is the intended audience?  Is the level appropriate for university level work or is it directed to a more general audience?
• What is the domain?  .Com sites are often designed to sell a product and are unlikely to contain scholarly information.  .Org and .int, used for non-profit organizations and for organizations established by international treaty are more likely to have reliable information international   Alberta.ca indicates provincial government sites while canada.ca or gc.ca are reserved for federal government site.  Each country, with the exception of the United States has a unique country code.
• When was the site last updated?  
• Who is responsible for the site? Is it from a university, business, government or professional association or someone's personal website?
• Does the site cite other, reputable sources?
• Is the language measured and free of bias?  Avoid sites with inflammatory or exaggerated wording.
• Does it contain any facts or claims you know to be inaccurate?