Skip to Main Content
Go to Penn Libraries homepage   Go to Guides homepage

Talking to Science Deniers: Critical Writing Program Fall 2024: Tips for Searching

Tips for Searching

Getting comfortable with searching in databases is a skill that you develop through practice, consideration, and working with your peers, instructors, and librarians.

The more experience you have, the more it becomes second nature. It is important to consider the quality and purpose of your sources as you identify articles, books, and other resources.

It isn't just whether the article or other work addresses your topic. Other factors should be taken into account:  What are the authors' credentials for writing on this topic, what is their evidence, how did they find or acquire that evidence, are their methods, data, and findings  supported by others from different institutions or organizations in the same or related fields. Even if appropriate and reliable, are the data and findings current or outdated? 

These are all good questions to discuss with your instructor or your librarian as you are doing your searching and finding your resources. Never base your conclusions on a single source of information. Even distinguished scholarly publications are occasionally compelled to retract or correct material. 

Penn Libraries Home Search the Catalog
(215) 898-7555