Different kinds of information
can be found in different types of sources. This becomes very important
for students who think they will find scholarly information on the Internet
or 2001 statistics in print. For students to conduct effective and efficient
research they must learn the best starting point for particular research
topics. This is especially true in the discipline of Black Studies where
the internet is often a great source of misleading and biased information.
The same can be true of books that reflect theories which were prevalent
at the time but not necessarily based on fact or data.
The most important aspect
of incorporating the evaluation of material into courses is to realize
that every topic needs to be evaluated for the best information sources.
If a student learns in advance of getting an assignment the types of
information they are likely to find within a source they are much more
likely to find useful information and avoid frustration.
A blanket assignment that
makes students find one of each source will not work with every topic.
If a topic is extremely new there may not be books or scholarly journal
articles in existence. Likewise, some topics aren't adequately treated
on the Internet or in popular magazines.
Let's review what types of
information can be found in which source: