When it comes to searching the Web, search smarter. Wikipedia pages can be written and edited by ANYBODY and when you are trying to find good materials and criticisms on your artists, you just don't want to stumble on any type of page. For example, in the Spring of 2015, rumors were posted on Facebeook and Wikipedia that Joni Mitchell was in a coma. . . when in fact, while she has been in the hospital for a month, she was not (she did have a brain aneurysm).
Start using the Google custom search engine of the Library's listed below, FIRST. Below that are other places you could search.
Print the Web Evaluation Checklist so you have guidelines to help you evaluate web resources effectively!
Wikipedia at least asks its anonymous, not necessary expert "anybody can contribute" authors to cite their sources for the information they put into the Wikipedia article. Given that, quality of those original sources will vary, so you will need to EVALUATE them.
Scroll down to References, Further Reading and External Links to discover resources, but keep in mind that unlike the scholars who author journal articles or subject encyclopedia entries, some of these contributions may be inappropriate for research.
1. After you conduct a search, before looking at ANY results, click on the SETTINGS and select ADVANCED SEARCH. (picture on left was when settings was only a Gear icon. Google has since more clearly spelled out what it stood for which was Settings).
2. Scroll down to "Then Narrow your Results by . . . ". Limit by domain (.edu, .gov OR .org) AND/OR limit by format (.pdf).
EVALUATE what you then find CAREFULLY. If in doubt and you don't know much about your artist, we strongly recommend you seek a source in one of our DATABASES or in PRINT, FIRST. Ask a Librarian for help.
