Page 90 - Computer Basics- Student Textbook

V. Process Each Source Quickly
A. Process each source only quickly
B. Read enough to understand the book
C. Take whatever notes you need.
D. Write down all the publication information (all relevant dates and location details) NOW for every
source you will or might use. (You’ll waste time trying to find it later or you may forget where you
found it.)
E. Use a thesaurus for similar words if you are having trouble finding resources (i.e.: instead of using
“sow,” you could use scatter, disseminate, seed, plant)

VI. Using Research Websites:
It’s important to ensure the web sources we use in our research are reliable,
scholarly level sources. Often students will be very wary about using resources
from a particular perspective or authors when found in print, but on the internet
they use whatever they can find. The student must bring his critical skills with him
to the process of evaluating online resources. Every web source used in research
should be critically evaluated using several criteria.

1. Accuracy. It is very important to only use information in scholarly research that is accurate. The
internet is available to anyone with computer access and anyone with a little knowledge can develop a
website. Websites do not go through the regular, rigorous editing process you will find from most
academic publishers. As a result, the information presented is often unsubstantiated and inaccurate. If
you come across inaccurate information in a website that entire site should be viewed much more
critically. Wikipedia is a good of example of asymmetrical information accuracy. Each entry must be
evaluated on a case by case basis. For example, you can see the use of Wikipedia in this course, this
material is helpful, accurate, and there is no reason to not employ this source. The key is evaluation!
(Note that although Wikipedia may be a good place to go for an overview of a topic, when it comes to
seminary writing use the independent sources that it leads you to rather than citing it directly).

2. Authority. Just as with any print resource it is important to know who wrote the information you are
reading and what are their credentials to be able to present this information? If a website does not
produce this information, then the website should probably not be used.

3. Scope. How wide of a scope does the site use to present information? Are other options presented and
objections dealt with? Does the site deal with the topic with enough scope to be considered scholarly?

4. Currency. The level of importance in currency will vary greatly depending on the particular topic that is
discussed in the website. Ideally, we want to see websites that are regularly updating and revising
information. This will let us know the author(s) are staying current with the work they are presenting.

Assorted Websites
One of the largest misconceptions concerning the internet is that the internet has everything. This, of course, is far
from the truth. The task then becomes finding what reliable information is available that may assist us in our
research needs. The following websites can be helpful in this regard:

GotQuestions http://GotQuestions.org
This website poses 597,507 (and growing) questions about the Bible or Church history
and then seeks to provide a biblically sound answer to each, referencing multiple
scriptures to support the answers. Its authors are scholarly and theologically conservative and reflect, for the most

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