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Reference sources are great resources to use as you get started on your topic. They are not intended to be read cover-to-cover, but rather provide you with more concise information as you begin to explore a topic.

                       Reference sources generally provide several things:

• Background information about a topic.
• Brief, factual overviews of topics.
• Information about important dates, events, and people associated with a topic.
• Terminology and definitions of terms related to a topic.
• Articles written by authors with expertise in the subject matter.
• Bibliographies of sources for further reading.

The library catalog is an inventory of all items found within the Midlakes MS/HS library, sitting on the library shelf. The catalog is organized so that you can search by a variety of options including keyword, author, title, subject etc. 

The library catalog record for a specific item (i.e. book, DVD) tells you the call number (identification number) and the status (checked out or available) of a particular item. 

              When searching through the library catalog consider:

• If you use a keyword search, the library catalog will search the entire collection for items that match the keywords you typed into the search box...so choose your keywords thoughtfully!
• Read the Table of Contents to determine if the book will be useful for your research
• Look at the publication date to determine if the information is up to date.
• Check out the "Details" tab located on the bottom of each library catalog item record for terms related to your topic to get more information for further searching.

A database is an online tool that allows you to search within a group of journals, magazines, or newspapers. The article database will use the keywords you type into the search box to find articles that contain those words. There are many different databases to choose from, and each individual database will cover only a certain type and number of publications.

In addition to citations (the information needed to locate articles) and abstracts (a short description of what the article is about), some databases also provide the full-text of articles, which you can view online, print, or e-mail.

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 messages boards and social media posts in your search results, as well as business-related or commercial sites by companies whose primary purpose is to convince consumers of the value of their products or services.  

Credibility literally means the quality of being trustworthy...so it's important to ask yourself when evaluating web content:

what has this source of information done to establish its trustworthiness?

When evaluating a website, check these basic points:

• Author – if you cannot determine who is responsible for the content of a website (either an individual or organization), you won't be able to gauge their expertise or relationship to the subject. 
• Domain – the last segment of the "root" of the URL (for example, hnu.edu) will tell you if the source of information is educational, governmental or commercial.
• Date of creation or revision – it is important to establish that any content containing data, facts or statistics is up-to-date and still relevant.
• Intended audience – if the content is intended for an academic audience, the website should provide information that can be verified using citations or external links.  
• Purpose of the information – the ratio of content to advertisement will tell you whether the site is being used to inform readers, or to make money.