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The Filter Bubble

filter bubble

Useful Databases for The Filter Bubble topics

  • Academic OneFile: Find scholarly, popular and some newspaper articles from across disciplines.  To limit to editorials, enter your search terms and add the word editorial.
  • Academic Search Complete: Find scholarly, popular and some newspaper articles from across disciplines.  To limit to editorials, enter “editorial” as an additional keyword or choose Editorials in the Document Type menu.
  • Alt-Press Watch: Find articles from the alternative and independent press in America.
     
  • Ethnic NewsWatch: Find articles from the ethnic, minority and native press in America.
Evaluate

When you find a viewpoint, whether it is in a newspaper, magazine or on the Web, consider the following characteristics to determine if it is an informed,representative viewpoint.

  • Credibility and representativeness: Who is the author? Is he/she an expert on the subject, a representative from a credible organization, a columnist for a newspaper?  What gives the author authority to represent that side of the controversy?  (ex: US Secretary of Commerce? A lawyer? A reporter for a student newspaper?)
    • TIP: If there is no information on the author, try searching Google for more about that person. If the name is common one, use a keyword from the topic (ex. Rebecca Blank and Department of Commerce).  Many web sites won’t have individual authors listed so ask the same questions of the organization as a whole.
  • Source bias: Does the source (newspaper, magazine, web site) generally lean to a particular side of controversies (examples: liberal vs. conservative; free market economics vs. government regulated economy)?
  • Accuracy: Is this information true? If it’s a viewpoint, did they use facts to support it? Are the facts accurate? Where did they get the information? Can you find this information elsewhere to confirm its accuracy?
  • Currency: Is it current enough for your research?

 

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