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Criminal Justice140

Using the Internet to Find Sources

Each prompt you have to address from the assignment is its own information need and requires its own research.

Start with a broad search of your serial killer, then add keywords as you continue searching.

For example:

"Belle Gunness"

"Belle Gunness" AND childhood

PRO TIP: If you find that your serial killer was known by other names, search those names as well!

Google Search Tips

When searching Google, try these search tips for best results:

  • Use "quotation marks" for phrase searching (for example, "Belle Gunness")
  • Search a specific domain (for example, "Belle Gunness" site:.gov)

While searching a specific domain can be helpful, remember that the domain does not determine the credibility of the information. It only tells you what kind of website it is.

When evaluating a website for credibility, evaluate the content within the site:

  • Who wrote it?
  • What kind of expertise do they have?
  • How does it help you with your research?

Google's AI Overview

When you do a Google search, Google will sometimes provide an AI Overview at the top of the search results. This is a summary of multiple search results and is comprised of numerous individual sources.

The AI Overview by itself is not a source and should not be cited as such.

To evaluate information found in a Google AI Overview, click on the link icon within the overview to expand the information. It will show you a list of the individual sources that were summarized to create the AI Overview. 

Evaluate each source carefully for credibility and usefulness. Generative AI (used to create AI summaries) has been known "hallucinate" - or provide incorrect or nonexistent content in response to a query. Hallucinated content can include made-up "facts," citations, code, and more.

A Note About Wikipedia

While Wikipedia is not an authoritative source to cite on its own, it can be a good tool to lead you to better, more authoritative sources. Look at the references listed, evaluate those for credibility, and determine if they meet your needs. You can often find primary sources (like newspaper articles), government documents, books, even scholarly sources.