Information Literacy Discussion

To effectively search for information you should make sure to use proper terms and search techniques while using your specific search engine. Some good search techniques are using quotation marks around words or phrases you want to keep together in the search, e.g. "state flower." Another way to effectively search for information is to use the advanced search tool. This will give you more options to narrow down your search, e.g. domain type, language.

Once you have found a site you think has good information, check to make sure it is credible. Some of these ways are by checking the publisher, the author, if the article or journal is peer reviewed, the type of writing, and the date it was published. Usually if the publishing date is older, the information may not be quite up to date and reliable. Another important way of checking to see if a website is credible is by checking the domain type. Usually, .com is the domain that is going to need the most research of it's credibility.