Help:Find sources: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:08, 29 July 2021

Revision as of 05:11, 3 March 2022

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Many of the best sources are not available online, or are only available under subscription. For example, many books are not available online at all, and subscription to academic databases such as [[JSTOR]] can be fairly expensive. However, it is possible to use the internet to find many good sources to use in writing encyclopedia articles. Examples of such sources are news stories from newspapers with a reputation for accuracy, books which have previews on Google Books, and academic papers which are available for free on their authors' websites.

== Types of sources ==

<div style="font-size:120%; margin-bottom:5px; text-align:left; padding-right:5%; line-height:150%; color:#222; padding-left:5px;width:80%">'''Types of sources'''<br/> </div>

Many types of sources are available, although some are appropriate only in certain situations.

*[[Academic_publishing#Scholarly_paper|Scholarly articles]]: short papers published in [[academic publishing|academic journals]]. They may present original research or review the research of others. Many undergo a process of [[peer review]] before publication. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twogpmM-SfY This video explains peer review in more detail].

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*Websites, blogs and other user-generated sources: online content from a variety of authors/publishers. Reliability depends on the editorial control of the website. [[WP:SPS|This page]] discusses issues with user-generated content.

== Where to look for sources ==

<div style="font-size:120%; margin-bottom:5px; text-align:left; padding-right:5%; line-height:150%; color:#222; padding-left:5px;width:80%">'''Where to look for sources'''<br/> </div>

*Google or other general search engines are effective for finding online sources in particular, but can also be used for some other kinds of sources depending on the topic area. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPw4PSsi55A This video] outlines advanced Google searching techniques.

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*Once you have found one good scholarly source, you can see what sources it cites and what cited it ([https://sydney.edu.au/library/skills/elearning/print/iResearch_Print_CitationChaining.pdf citation chaining]). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1mu4VZVzk0 This video] describes citation chaining using Google Scholar.

== Evaluating sources ==

<div style="font-size:120%; margin-bottom:5px; text-align:left; padding-right:5%; line-height:150%; color:#222; padding-left:5px;width:80%">'''Evaluating sources'''<br/> </div>

Issues to consider in deciding whether a source is [[WP:RS|reliable]] include:

*Who is the author? What are their qualifications and reputation? Do they have any identifiable biases?

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*Is the source [[WP:PSTS|primary, secondary, or tertiary]]?

*Are there any obvious errors or omissions?

{{For|more information about how Wikipedia policy evaluates sources |Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources}}<div style="font-size:120%; margin-bottom:5px; text-align:left; padding-right:5%; line-height:150%; color:#222; padding-left:5px;width:80%">'''Templates'''<br/> </div>

== Templates ==

To help find sources, Wikipedians have developed a number of [[:Category:Source-finding templates|source-finding templates]] which link to searches most likely to find references suitable for use in articles. The most well-known of these is {{tl|find sources}}, an inline template which can be used almost anywhere. (But [[WP:ELNO|please don't use it in articles themselves]].) This template allows editors to tweak search strings to find the best match for the subject; see the [[Template:Find sources|documentation]] for details. Alternatively, users who desire more freedom can use the meta-template {{tl|find sources multi}}, which allows a choice of search engines.