Using Wikipedia or Google may be OK for everyday information needs, but standards of academic research usually require the use of scholarly materials. These materials are research-based books, reports, and academic journals, most of which can only be found by using library systems such as the ELibrary databases.
Unlike ELibrary databases, which have edited or peer-reviewed content organized by subject disciplines, the Internet contains pages that can be created by anyone. There is little editing, quality control or fact-checking.
Because there is so much information on the Internet, scholarly information can be hard to find. BEFORE you use any Internet information in your research paper, make sure you understand your instructor’s preferences and expectations. Some professors will allow Internet use, others will forbid it.
When to Use Wikipedia
Traditionally, universities have considered any kind of encylopedia to be an inappropriate source for academic level research. Wikipedia is particularly suspect and its use is often banned completely by professors. Why?
Like the Internet, Wikipedia is an open, collaborative product, which means that anyone can add any kind of information to it without the information being verified or documented. The anonynmous nature of contributions makes the information suspect and open to abuse - there have been several well-documented cases of deliberately false articles being added. Although Wikipedia is working toward a peer-review process for its articles, most UM professors will not allow it to be used in papers or assignments.
Talk to your instructor BEFORE you use Wikipedia for any part of your Arts 1110 research paper!
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Google Scholar is one of many secondary search engines that Google has developed to make location of specialized information easier. Google Scholar searches across scholarly literature, including books, journals, reports and other types of academic publications. It includes some fulltext, if the fulltext is freely available.
Google Scholar will also link to academic publications that are available by subscription only. General Google users have to pay to view the fulltext of these articles, but the University of Manitoba Libraries and Google Scholar can give you direct access to our ELibrary collections through UMLinks.
Please Note that to use this feature of Google Scholar, you must either be at a University of Manitoba network computer, or go through regular off-campus authentication procedures for Elibrary, if you're using Google Scholar from home.
- Go to the Google Homepage at www.google.com
- Select "Scholar"
- You should see a search box like the one below:
- When you find an article or book you want to view, Google will link you directly via UMLinks to the full-text if it is available. You must use a University of Manitoba network computer, or be connected through our server.
- If the information is not available in full-text format, print the citation information (title of article, journal title, author, page numbers, etc.) and search for the item in BISON, the University of Manitoba Libraries Catalogue
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In the Google search box, type in:
my search terms site:edu
where my search terms is the subject or topic you wish to search
example: shakespeare language site:edu - this search will find websites and documents from educational sites about both language and shakespeare. -
You can also search other document types such as:
ca - Canadian
org - non-profit organization
com - for profit - Go to the University Search Page at www.google.com/options/universities.html
- You will find a list of universities. Choose the university you would like to search. Perform search
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You can search for a phrase by placing words within quotation marks.
example george bush - may find documents about men named George who trim trees and bushes, but
"george bush" - will only find documents with the name George Bush somewhere in the title or text of the document. - In the Google search box, type in:
what is word,
where word is the term you want defined example:
what is symposium - will find definitions of the word symposium - Individuals, not automated programs or "crawlers" gather the sites.
- The sites tend to be on specific topics and of high quality.
- The sites are usually annotated.
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You can improve the quality of your Google searching and increase the likelihood of finding scholarly information if you know how to use some of the advanced features.
For example:Search for Pages That Are Found on Education Sites
Search a Specific University's Site
Search a Phrase
Find a Definition
To get the most out of your Google searching, click on the following tutorials and guides:
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Google isn't the only search engine. There are many different search engines online, which all work a little differently and track different kinds of information. Here are some of the most popular ones. Click on icons below to try them out:
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Specialized Search engines. These are also known as subject directories. They're different from general search engines like Google and Yahoo:
Two examples are the Librarians' Index to the Internet and Infomine. Click on the icons below to try them:
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Although the Internet started as a means of scholarly communication, most websites now consist of commercial or entertainment material. A lot of the content found on informational sites has not been reviewed, or checked for quality or accuracy. Only a small percentage of Internet information is considered to be academic in nature.
The ability to evaluate information, especially from Internet sources, is a key skill for academic success.
The Key Reources below can help you learn how to be an informed Internet user:
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Web Evaluation Rubric
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