A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

influential a source is by how often others cite it. To determine that, consult a citationindex (in the bibliography, see section 4 in your field).Those signs don't guarantee that a source is reliable, but they should give you reasonableconfidence in it. If you can't find reliable sources, acknowledge the limits of the ones youhave. Of course, you may find an exciting research problem when you discover that a sourcethought to be reliable is not.3.4.3 Evaluate the Reliability of Online SourcesEvaluate online sources as you do those in print, but more cautiously. The number of reliableWeb sources grows every day, but they are still islands in a swamp of misinformation. If youfind data available only on the Web, look for sites or online publications with these signs ofreliability:1. The site is sponsored by a reputable organization. Some sites supported by individualsare reliable; most are not.2. It is related to a reliable professional journal.3. It supplements reliable print sources. Some journals use the Web to host discussionsamong authors and readers, to offer data too new to be in libraries, to archive data not inarticles, or to present illustrations too expensive to print. Many government and academicdatabases are only online.4. It avoids heated advocacy for or against a contested social issue.5. It does not make wild claims, attack other researchers, use abusive language, or makeerrors of spelling, punctuation, and grammar.6. It indicates when the site was last updated. If it has no date, be cautious.Trust a site only if careful readers would trust those who maintain it. If you don't know whomaintains it, be skeptical.Online services now provide reliable editions of many older texts. You'll also find welleditedtexts at many university sites. It's “one-stop shopping”; you never have to move fromyour chair. Online services are, however, far less complete than most university libraries, andusing them will teach you nothing about doing research in a real library. Some day,everything ever printed will be available online (a future that gives some researchers mixedfeelings). But until then, surfing the Web doesn't replace prowling the stacks.3.5 Look beyond the Usual Kinds of ReferencesIf you are writing a class paper, you'll usually have to focus narrowly on the kinds of sourcestypically used in your field. But if you are doing an advanced project such as an MA thesis orPhD dissertation, find an opportunity to search beyond them. If, for example, you were doingwww.itpub.net