Writer’s blog 5
As a writer, especially a new writer, finding information can be difficult. I have never been great at deciding which informational source is the best one to use in my writing. We are taught various tips and tricks in order to find information within our research. Many of these tricks we have been taught are not completely accurate and true.
One of the biggest lessons I have been taught when conducting research deals with the domain. I have been taught to look at the domain of the website to determine if it is a reliable and trustworthy source. If the domain ends in .edu or .org, I was taught that it is a good, reliable source. If it ends in .com then that is not as good of a source to use. This is not accurate. There are many sources with a .com domain that are extremely good sources and some even better than a .org or .edu.
The next lesson I was always taught was to avoid Wikipedia. I was always told wikipedia was an unreliable source full of false information. It includes false information because anyone can edit it and add false facts. This is not the case. Wikipedia can be a very good source of information for research. The information on the site must be backed by other sources where they found the information. There is a section at the bottom for all the sources this writer used. You also must have a wikipedia account in order to post information on the site. Wikipedia can also have control over their users, writers, and editors.
I have now learned better researching techniques that are more useful than these false lessons I have been taught. One of these techniques I have learned is the SIFT method. This SIFT method has taught me how to properly find a source that is accurate and useful for my research.
The first step in SIFT is to Stop. Stop reading anything before you can analyze the site. Look at the site and decide if this is a reliable source for your information. Next you must investigate the source. Learn what this source is before you decide if it is valuable. Know what you are reading BEFORE you read it. Third, you must find trusted coverage. This means you must find other sources that agree with this source. Find other trusted sources that could support the one you have found. Finally, you have to trace claims, quotes, and media. You must trace them back to the original context. In tracing the text back you can find if it is accurately presented in the site you found.
Using this method I am able to better understand how to conduct research. Knowing proper ways to find information helps me to further my research. I have always struggled to find good sites to base my information on. In using a method such as SIFT, I am able to analyze my findings and decide if it is a good source for information.
