Developing searching and source criticism - using correct terminology

Since previous sessions about searching and source ciritcism have been in Swedish, this time we will go through the correct terminology in English and also practice using that terminology when talking about sources and searching.

Source criticism criteria: 

Time (närhet) = how old ord new a source is. Remember that sometimes old is good - it depends on your subject and what you need the information for.

Dependency (beroende) = two sources can be dependent on each other if they base their information on the same source. It is preferable to find sources not dependent on each other.

Authenticity (äkthet) = Is the source genuine? Is the information correct?

Bias (tendens) = potential interests may make a source biased, for instance financial, political, religious and ideological interests. Remember that just because a source is biased doesn't mean that it's useless.


Different kinds of sources: 

Primary sources = was there when something happened. Could be a witness, an object, or the original study of a reasearch team.

Secondary sources = retells the story/information of the primary source. For instance an interview in an article, or a shortened version of a research study.

Tertiary sources = retells the information of a secondary source.


Relevant terms in searching for information: 

Search engine = a search tool made only out of programming. It has no content of it's own but searches only for material available through the surface web. There are different algorithms to make the search result as relevant to you as possible, but there are no people behind the search result.

Database = a search tool made out of programming AND content. It searches only whatever content has been put into it by people. The content is put into the database under specific subject terms, based on what the material is about, to make them easier to find. Databases are usually specialized in certain kinds of information, like articles, books, research etc.

Search words = the terms and combination of terms we use when searching.

Search results = the list of matches we get from the search words we have used. Search results differ depending on search words, search tool, and possibly (when using search engines) our previous searching etc.


Why is it important to use the correct terminology?

To know something is closely related to having a language for it. Most fields of knowledge have specific terms and a language tradition. Outside of school/work/education it may be enough to describe things using an everyday language, but the higher you get in education the more you will be expected to use the language and terminology of that field. In doing so you will also understand the texts of that field. By knowing these terms in source criticism and searching you are expected to be able to understand when these words are used, and to develop your own way of thinking.