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SOCI 3340: Environmental Sociology Research Guide

Searching the Web

 Generally, you should use library databases to find your articles, and the web to supplement your arguments with statistics, demographic information, and reports. Things to keep in mind when searching the web:

  • Use websites only when appropriate and question their credibility. Remember, almost anyone can publish something online because it doesn't go through the same review process like books or articles. 
  • Generally .gov, .edu, .org sites tend to be the most credible, though there are still exceptions. To limit your Google search to these domains, type in your search term followed by a colon with the domain name. Ex. population trends:.gov 
  • Try using Google Scholar to search for scholarly literature on the web. See the Google Scholar box for more information.
  • When in doubt, ask your instructor if it's okay to use a particular web source.