Sometimes research assignments seem daunting. Having the right tools makes it much easier.  This page is loaded with useful information to help you be successful.

Below is an illustration of the steps of the research process.

The links below are super handy!  The first, Foundations, will go more in depth of the above steps.  The second is a citation generator to help put your citation page together quickly and accurately.

Foundations

Citation Generator

Feel free to visit the DRHS library for assistance! We will help you figure it out :)  

When seeking information from a news outlet, try to utilize sources that are within the green boxed out area of the chart to help ensure the most fair, non-biased look at your topic.

Click on the following link if you would like to see a larger version of the Media Bias Chart.

https://7397351.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7397351/Media-Bias-Chart-11.0_Jan-2023-Licensed-Protected.pdf

Need to verify the legitimacy of a website? 

Follow the C.R.A.P. test criteria below and watch the video by

Portland State University to see the process in action. 

Follow-up with deeper investigation of a website by using the SIFT Method : SIFT

C.R.A.P. TEST  Evaluating Research Sources

Currency

• How recent is the information?
• Can you locate a date when the page(s) were written/created/updated? (Copyright)

• Based on your topic, is it current enough?

Reliability 

• What kind of information is included in the website?
• Are there misspellings and/or grammatical errors?
• Is the information balanced or biased? Does the author use "in my opinion" or "I think"?
• Does the author provide references for quotations and data?
• If there are links, do they work and do they lead to legitimate sites?

Authority

• Can you determine who the author/creator is?
• Is there a way to contact them?
• What are their credentials (education, affiliation, experience, etc.)?
• Who is the publisher or sponsor of the site?
• Is this publisher/sponsor reputable?

Purpose

• What's the intent of the website (to inform, persuade, to sell you something)?
• What is the domain (.edu, .org, .com, etc.)? How might that influence the purpose/point of view?
• Are there ads on the website? How do they relate to the topic being covered (e.g., an ad for ammunition next to an article about firearms legislation)?
• Is the author presenting facts or strictly opinion?

Adapted by Marcella Howden from: http://libguides.southmountaincc.edu/CRAPtest

DID YOU KNOW?

On the Destiny Discover homepage (click on the Access Destiny widget on the library main webpage) are links to state sponsored databases like EBSCO that will connect you to legitimate sources for your research. Databases are warehouses of vetted, reliable articles/journals/newspaper publications and the databases provide citations for the sources as well.  It's a win-win to use them :) 

To access the databases from school devices, there is no login or password needed, however, to access them from home, you will need the logins/passwords.  Just ask the librarian and they will give you those :)