Evaluate Information
Scientists and engineers rely on authoritative sources of information they can trust. Be a good information consumer -- evaluate your sources. Look for sources that:
- List authors and their credentials or affiliations -- So you know who's providing the information
- Are published by reputable organizations, for example --
- Federal and state scientific agencies
- Professional STEM societies and organizations
- Universities with STEM research programs
- Well-known commercial publishers in science, research and technology
- Usually include citations to other publications, statistics, data
- Are often "peer-reviewed" -- reviewed by other experts in that field
A trustworthy sources doesn't have to meet all of these criteria, but it should meet at least some of them.
Evaluating Information -- More on how to identify authoritative and trustworthy sources.
Image -- Researches looking at data, Colorado School of Mines
Trustworthy Or Not?
You should focus on using authoritative sources, but you can use both authoritative and popular sources for your project. Take extra care evaluating (and think twice about using) sources that:
- Try to sell you something, have a lot of advertisements
- Focus mostly on entertaining you
- Use emotional language, try to persuade you
- Appear biased towards a viewpoint
- Have no date -- How old is this information?
What About...
AI? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used to identify publications and other information for scholars and researchers. Check with your advisor and the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair's Student Researcher Information on the use of AI for your science project. Remember: You as a scientist or engineer are responsible for verifying citations and other information retrieved using AI.
Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a good starting point -- but remember, it shouldn't be the only source of your research. Wikipedia has a wide range of contributors that write articles, from authoritative and scholarly to weird or unreliable. Use the criteria above to evaluate a Wikipedia article -- focus particularly on, "Does the article cite its sources?" "Do those cited sources look authoritative and trustworthy?"
YouTube? YouTube excels in demonstrations, "how to", and experiments. Again, use the criteria above to evaluate a YouTube clip.