Page 95 - DLIS407_INFORMATION AND LITERATURE SURVEY IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Information and Literature Survey in Social Sciences

Notes C. Web-sites
Information on the internet is mostly unfiltered, requiring extra caution in selecting reliable sources.
Virtually anyone can create a web site on a topic, regardless of their training, education, or experience
in the subject field. You may also find e-mail messages and newsgroup postings in your search results,
as well as business-related or commercial sites, posted by companies whose primary purpose is to
convince consumers of the value of their products or services.
The following points should be considered while evaluating the books:
y Author or contact person – usually located in the footer
y Link to local home page – usually located in either header or footer
y Institution – usually located in either header or footer
y Domain – the last segment of the “root” of the URL (e.g., http://www.info@abc.edu).

y Date of creation or revision – usually located in footer
y Intended audience – determined by examining the body
y Purpose of the information – determined by examining the body

Task List the 5 primary, secondary and tertiary sources of information.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are True or False:
3. Secondary sources are limited in time and space.
4. The secondary data are not up-to-date and become obsolete when they appear in print,
because of time lag in producing them.
5. Information on the internet is mostly unfiltered, requiring extra caution in selecting reliable
sources.

11.3 Evaluation of Tertiary Sources of Information in Social Science

Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary
sources. Generally, tertiary sources are not considered to be acceptable material on which to base
academic research. Tertiary sources are usually not credited to a particular author. Even more difficult
in discerning the difference between a primary and secondary source is reviewing tertiary sources.
Some writers don’t make the distinction between tertiary and secondary because both types of
materials do not represent original works (primary sources). However, for the purposes of reviewing
the literature, it is important to understand how tertiary sources can contribute to your overall search
for relevant information for your paper.
Reviewing tertiary source material can be of value in improving your overall research paper because
they:
y Often compile factual information in one place and to search for the data in multiple sources
takes time (e.g., searching for names of heads of state in an almanac)

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