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Geology: Journals & Databases

Databases

The University of Otago Geology Museum holds more than 60,000 catalogued fossils in three main collections: vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. These fossils have been carefully logged into hand-written catalogue books for more than 100 years. Now, these catalogue books are being digitised into three searchable databases for all to access.

Assess your findings

Evaluating and thinking critically about sources of information are important skills to develop and apply while undertaking research.

Not all information is reliable and appropriate for academic work, and not all information is relevant to your particular topic.

You should challenge and reflect on information that you find; don’t just accept everything you read.

Te Whatu Aho Rau - He Anga Arotake: an information evaluation framework - provides a holistic Māori-informed view of the information evaluation process, to apply as you find and select quality information.

Collaborators: Dr Angela Feekery and Reupena Tawhai, 2024

Te Whatu Aho Rau can be interpreted as 'the weaving of a hundred threads' or 'the eye catching a hundred lights'.

Assess sources, based on:
  • Pūtaketanga - Origin - trace the expertise, intent and authority
  • Aronga - Lens, Perspective, Purpose - objectivity of the information
  • Tātai hononga - Connections - conversations between ideas, communities, and disciplines
  • Māramatanga - Understanding - usability of the source for your purpose, audience, and context

     

    Formerly known as Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework

    Assess sources, based on:

  • OROKOHANGA - ‘The Origins’: The source of the information
  • MANA - ‘The Authority’ of the information
  • WHAKAPAPA - ‘The Background’ of the information
  • MĀRAMATANGA - ‘The Content’ and usability of the information
  • ARONGA - ‘The Lens’ or objectivity of the information

    Tutorial link

    • Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

    SIFT - Evaluating Information Tutorial

    Even though the library databases are good sources of information, we still need to evaluate that information before we decide to use it. You can do this by asking the following questions:

    • Is the information relevant to your topic?​
    • Who are the authors, are they experts in the field? Who do they work for? What else have they written?​
    • What evidence is given, what references are given, and what methodology is used?​
    • How is the study funded? Is there a bias?​
    • When was the information written, is it still relevant? Has it been updated or amended in light of new evidence?

    Use the acronym BADURL to help you evaluate online sources:
    B ... Bias
    A ... Authority
    D ... Date
    U ... URL
    R ... Relevance
    L ... Links

    Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

    TRAAP Test

    Or apply these terms to assess if the information you have found answers your research question.

    Timeliness

    Relevance

    Authority

    Accuracy

    Purpose

    Download the TRAAP Test Questions

    Here are some resources to help develop your evaluating skills:

    • For a simple 'commonsense' approach to evaluating claims made by the news media, read this short article by Doug Specht & Julio Gimenez from the University of Westminster, and pay close attention to the 6 'steps for reading like a scientist'.
    • If you need to verify a claim, you can check it on a fact-checking website. Check out this guide to Fact Checkers, curated by the University of California Berkley Library, for ideas on what websites to use if you are not sure.
    • Work through this excellent module on 'evaluating information and critical thinking' created by The University of Sheffield Library.
    • Check out this fun, short, easy game, created by a Canadian civics charity organisation 'CIVIX'. The game is designed to improve your verifying sources skills, by teaching you tricks for checking a claim, a source and an image: FAKEOUT

    Accessing the full text of a journal article

    Many databases give access to the full text articles, but others provide only citations. With citation-only databases, look for the Article Link button (above) or text. Article Link connects the Library article databases to the Library eJournal collections, so that you can click through to access the full-text of an article, if the LIbrary holds it.

    Finding journal articles using Library Search | Ketu

    You can use Library Search | Ketu to access the full text of an article: 

    1.   You can find an article from a citation by searching for the "Title of the article" (within quotation marks)

    2.   You can also find the Journal that the article was published in by searching the Title of the Journal (usually underlined or in Italics) in Library Search | Ketu Advanced Search 

    • Select in the title and material type Journals
    • The journal may be held in print, electronically, or both
    • Browse to find the correct year/volume and page numbers

    For further help, check out the resources below...

    Full text not available?

    If the Library doesn't have digital or print access to a journal article, use the Library's Interloan service to request it, and we'll get it for you for free!