How do I know if it's credible or authoritative?
It is important to do some critical evaluation to decide whether what you find, particularly online sources of information, is appropriate and usable for your college-level research assignment.
This video tutorial from North Carolina State University Library provides practical steps for evaluating Internet resources.
For more in-depth guidance, view Evaluating Internet Resources which provides questions to guide you through determining the source, purpose, currency, accuracy and bias of a site.
These websites have been collected by previous classes.
Search the internet for additional resources that are relevant for your class research project. Evaluate the website you select to verify that it is authoritative. You may always verify the quality of your selection with a professor or librarian as well.
LIBRARIAN'S COMMENTS ON STUDENT SUBMISSIONS:
1. Chicano English: discussed in class - example of a webpage sponsored by the Comm Dis department at another university. It also includes information for some other dialects!
2. Microsyntax.sites from Yale University: This directly references the Appalachian English examples from the Wolfram (1976) book that is in our collection. The information is verifiable. Notice all of the other references in this, for example, "(Stewart 1972; Hackenberg 1973; Wolfram & Christian 1976; Wolfram 1976; Feagin 1979; Wolfram 1988)" Use this to find original sources!
3. Why does a Southern Drawl sound uneducated to some? This is a blog post, but that it is on a reputable magazine website and written by a neuroscientist who is Chief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section at the National Institutes of Health makes it rate high on the authority scale! How do I know who he is? I Googled him, of course!
4. The Dialect of Appalachian People: Great find! A source like West Virginia Archives and History will likely provide solid, well-researched information.
5. A Cajun French-English Glossary: We talked about this one in class. It's a good source, but might be hard to justify as relevant - unless you can somehow connect Cajun French words provided in this glossary with some that are also used in Cajun English (which might not be described in this source.)
6. African American English: This is another interesting find from a teaching researcher/professor, Charles E. DeBose
Department of English, California State University, Hayward, California,
7. African American Vernacular English : The expertise of the author was not clear on the first page. Visiting the Home page, and finding the author's email address, I was able to see that he is an Emeritus Professor, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences at Univ. of New England. BONUS... He provides additional references to follow. Nice find!!