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Hampton Roads EDD

Information Timeline

The timeline in which information is published impacts what you find. For example, the day of an event you can find messages on Twitter, but you won't find a comprehensive study. A year after an event you may be able to find the first longer, more scholarly sources on the topic. This list is ordered from most immediate to least, which coincides with least researchd/contextualized to most. To some extent, this also moves from primary to secondary to teritary resources as well. 

  1. Social Media
  2. News oriented websites
  3. Newspapers
  4. Weekly magazines
  5. Magazines
  6. Popular nonfiction books
  7. Scholarly articles
  8. Scholarly books
  9. Reference resources 

Quicklist for Websites

  • URL/Domain?
  • Who wrote the page? What authority does the author have?
  • Is there a date? Is it current, timely?
  • Is information cited? Do the citations exist?
  • Does the page have overall integrity and reliability as a source?
  • What's the bias?
  • Could the page or site be ironic, like a satire or a spoof?
  • If you have questions or reservations, how can you satisfy them?