Evaluating web sites

So now you have 16,400 results from your Google search. Make that 16,500 – things have changed since yesterday.

Which ones should you include in your research? What makes a web site a good, reliable source of information?

A quick check of the following criteria will help you start to weed out the junk:

Purpose  – Why does the site exist? To promote a hobby? To share professional information? To make money?  To perpetuate a hoax or urban legend?

Authority – Who is the author? Does this person have the knowledge and experience to be a trusted source? How can you tell? What does the author gain from sharing the information? Are you able to contact the author?

Objectivity – Is there a bias or slant? Does the information relflect that bias? Is that a problem? (it may not be, depending on your research)

Currency – Is the information current? Has it been updated regularly?  Check the bottom of the page for a “last modified” date.

After you’ve eliminated the obvious junk, go back to review your possibilities again.  Choose sites that are clear and relevant.  When in doubt, don’t use the site. Keep looking. You may need to try another search.

Need help as you begin your next paper? Just ask!

search tip: quotation marks

I Google. I bet you do, too.  One of my favorite searching tricks is a very simple one: put quotation marks around phrases when you search. That way, Google will search for the words together and in the order you intended.

While you’re at it, be specific.  Use your search terms to describe exactly what you are looking for.

The goal? A short (well, short for Google) results list. Here are some sample Google searches and the number of results:

• wedding cake = 2,530,000
• “wedding cake” = 1,410,000
• “wedding cake” design = 1,100,000
• “wedding cake” design “rolled fondant” = 16,400

Tomorrow’s tip? Figuring out which of those 16,400 web sites to use for your assignment.

CHIC Podcast #74: Making your own Beer

 Are you listening to the CHIC podcast?

Tune in this week as Chef Tom talks to student brewer Ryan O’Keefe about beermaking.

BBQ

Today is the Start Week BBQ, a great way to end a busy first week and get the Memorial Day Weekend underway.

Curious about barbeque? Check out these sites:

• Illinois BBQ Society
• National Barbeque News
• National Barbeque Association

Help Build the Library Collection

Our goal is to provide the CHIC community with the best library collection and to do that, we need your help. When you read, see or hear about books & magazines that would be a great fit for the library please let us know about them!

Email your suggestions to Deb at dbacon@chicnet.org.   

Feeding America

The Michigan State University Libraries and the MSU Museum have partnered to create an online collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The goal of this project is to make these materials available to a wider audience.

Digital images of the pages of each cookbook are available as well as full-text transcriptions and the ability to search within the books, across the collection, in order to find specific information.*

Be sure to check out the gallery of museum objects featuring digital images and descriptions of historic kitchen utensils and equipment. The extensive glossary defines terms found in the collection’s cookbooks for the benefit of modern readers who may not know the meaning of words such as laradoon or isinglass.

*text describing project taken from the Feeding America web site.

Vinography: A Wine Blog

Check out Vinography, Alder Yarrow’s wine blog.  In 2007, Vinography won the “Best Wine Reviews” category in the American Wine Blog Awards.

About Alder, from the Gilded Fork:

Since January of 2004, Alder has been publishing Vinography.com, where he writes daily about wines, the wine world, and good restaurants around the globe. Vinography has garnered praise from Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and 7×7 Design Magazine, and is widely recognized as the world’s leading wine blog. More than a million readers a month seem to agree with that sentiment.

Clip art courtesy of ABKL Designs

Start Week

Start Week is a busy week for everyone, particularly our new students. As you get settled into your routine at CHIC, please be sure to stop in the library, take a look around, and introduce yourself. 

We offer a collection of books & magazines, access to online databases and culinary-related web links, help with your library research and assignments, and a place to study or check your email. 

Our tutoring services are free and available anytime the library is open. Our tutors are current students who are doing well in their classes. Come as little or as often as you like for help with proofreading, typing skills, study skills, and more.

Monterey Bay Aquarium – Seafood WATCH

 The MBA Seafood WATCH program provides pocket guides, tools, and resources that focus on sustainability of fish species.

Seafood WATCH is a “program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. We recommend which seafood to buy or avoid, helping consumers to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood. We’re also partners of the Seafood Choices Alliance where, along with other seafood awareness campaigns, we provide seafood purveyors with recommendations on seafood choices.”

Photo courtesty of PDPhoto.org

The library blog is back!

Hello! My name is Deb and I am the new librarian here at CHIC. In addition to being a  librarian, I was trained as a baker at Grand Rapids Community College .

I’m very happy to be at CHIC and look forward to seeing you in the library.  You’ll also see me at Chef Tom’s bread guild. I hear the next meeting is in June.

I’ve updated the blog to be the virtual front door of the library & tutoring center. You’ll find news, hours of operation, and contact information for LRC staff.  Starting here, you can search the library catalog, find magazine & journal articles, read blogs, link to all kinds of helpful information, and more. 

Please leave a comment or stop in to let me know how the blog can better serve you. It is a work in progress and all suggestions are welcome!