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Researching Chemistry

Learn how to evaluate websites for reliability, level, and bias in chemistry research. Discover why literature-based scientific research is important and how to reference websites properly.

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Researching Chemistry

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  1. Researching Chemistry Web-based Research

  2. Learning objectives In this lesson, you will learn to: • evaluate websites for reliability, level and bias • reference websites to allow another person to find the same information.

  3. Why carry out literature-based scientific research? • To find out what is known and what remains to be discovered about a topic. • To stay up to date with research in a particular field. • To find information to help develop new ideas and design new experiments.

  4. Finding out what is known about a topic Scientists use a number of communication methods: • conference presentations • published articles • other communications • websites • blogs • manuals • videos, etc • Which of these do you think is/are most reliable?

  5. Finding out what is known about a topic Scientists use a number of communication methods: • conference presentations • published articles • other communications • websites • blogs • manuals • videos, etc

  6. Published articles Scientific articles are often published in: • science magazines (egNew Scientist, Chemistry World) • scientific journals (egScience, Nature). Scientific journal articles are ‘peer reviewed’. Peer-reviewed journals are reliable but expensive. Scientific magazines are more widely available. The most likely source of scientific information in school is the internet.

  7. Internet research • The internet is an excellent source of information, but it can be difficult to establish reliability. • The world wide web is the fastest growing area of the internet. It is a collection of documents on thousands of computers worldwide. • The web is not controlled. Anyone can publish almost anything on it: you must decide if the information you retrieve is reliable and valid.

  8. Evaluating website information • When using information from a website, you should consider the following key questions: • Who does the site belong to? • Why was it written? • When was it written and most recently updated?

  9. Who does the site belong to? • The domain gives the type of organisation and the country of origin of the website: .gov government body .ac UK educational institution .edu US education institution .org non-profit organisation .co or .com UK or US commercial site .uk United Kingdom .us United States .au Australia

  10. Why was the site written? • To inform or explain – purely factual sites, eg government or university. • To sell – commercial sites that sell a product (may be disguised). • To persuade or indoctrinate – sites designed to convert you to a particular point of view, eg some charities and religious organisations.

  11. Referencing • In Higher Chemistry you must clearly state the source of your information. • Make sure you write down the correct web address when referencing a website. • Check the address yourself by typing it into the browser.

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