Scholarly Databases vs. Websites

            Scholarly databases are distinct from website databases because they are written by professionals while those from the websites are published by nonspecialists.  Additionally, scholarly databases are reviewed through a peer process while the website databases are reviewed by the editor (Badke, 2014).  The scholarly databases hold footnotes while the others fail to mention sources. The website databases hold several advertisements and graphics which are irrelevant to the published data. On the other hand, scholarly databases hold minimizes advertising and graphics unless they are fully relevant to the given article. Scholarly databases hold more relevance because the published information is fully researched for (Badke, 2014).

            When determining the credibility databases the internet can be very challenging and time-consuming.  Technological advances have generated wealth information that is readily available. The challenge, however, arises in the quest to decipher via all the data that is generated through a single information search on the internet.  In order to determine whether the database that I have gotten is credible,  I check at domains such as  URL which is a locator of a uniform resource where to verify that it ends with .org or Gov. This, therefore, implies that the  information and the whole website is published by the  government or other reliable organizations.  If the URL link ends with .com this means that the website is not scholarly as the information is published for personal and commercial utilization and therefore the publication would have been done by anybody thus making it not- academic (Blakesley, & Hoogeveen, 2012). Additionally, I utilize systematic approaches in determining whether the site is academic which helps in evaluating the credibility of the sites. This strategy is, however, time consuming thus making it challenging to utilize.  

 

 

            References

            Badke, W. (2014). Research strategies: Finding your way through the information fog. Bloomington, Ind: iUniverse.

            Blakesley, D., & Hoogeveen, J. L. (2012). Writing: A manual for the digital age. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.