Ch. 19 Post #9

Summary:
After reading chapter nineteen in the guide I have a better understanding of how to find and evaluate information from sources and the field. When researching for a topic there are so many ways to find information. To conduct effective research you should write down research questions and then answer them based off the information you found. From the library to the internet you can find anything and everything. In a library you can use a book catalog or electronic databases. Databases are indexes of articles that are available in periodicals. Searching for information on the World Wide Web is also another form of researching. You can use different search engines such as Google, yahoo, Wikipedia etc. When selecting your sources for a specific topic you must take into considerations which one will be best for your writing situation. Books, academic journals, newspapers, popular magazines, trade or commercial magazines, public affair magazines, specialty magazines, and the internet of some of many different sources you could use for research. After finding your sources you should evaluate them using reporter style questions: Who is the author?, What is the text about? What is the quality of the information?, When was the text published or the web site last updated?, Why was this information published?, Where was the item published?, and How accurate is the information in this source? Sometimes the best kind of research is field search which is when you use human subjects to ask questions. You can make observations, interviews, and surveys and questioners.

Reaction:
My reaction to this reading was it was informative on conducting research and gave great examples and explanations of researching.

3 Questions:
1. How effective are these researching sources?
2. In what ways can a student use this information to their advantage?
3. How important are using a variety of resources?