Research Guides: Data Stewardship & Ethics (Data 102): Activities

Evaluating

As a class, you will:
- Identify the provided sources as either scholarly/academic, trade/professional, or consumer/popular.
- Discuss reasons why.
Sources:
1. Data Science and Management
2. Science News
3. Yale ISPS Data Archive
4. Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

Consider how scholarly publishing practices impact the types of sources available for your topic (ex. a current topic can take months to years to be discussed in scholarly journals or books)
Consider whether you need primary or secondary sources
Consider whether you need data or statistics
Consider whether you need peer-reviewed sources
Carefully compare the source details on your database results' page to your previously decided requirements (i.e. level of review, format, date of publication, etc.)
Make sure to fact-check your gathered sources (particularly those gathered outside UT Libraries' databases)
When in doubt, ask your librarian for help!

In groups, you will:
- Explore the topic of your choice using the assigned search tool.
- Prepare to demonstrate for the class how to apply the assigned tool for future research projects, paying particular attention to the following:
  - What keywords did you use?
  - What filters did you use to narrow down your results?
  - How did you evaluate your chosen results for quality?
  - Was there anything unexpected about your searching experience?
  - Would you use this tool again? Why or why not?
Group assigned tools:
- Group 1 – OneSearch
- Group 2 – Academic Search Complete
- Group 3 – Gale Academic OneFile
- Group 4 – Census Data
- Group 5 – Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
- Group 6 – Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

OneSearch
One Search finds items from UT Collections as well as journal and newspaper articles, books and book chapters, and much more from multiple library resources.
Academic Search Complete
This multidisciplinary database covers magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers and is a good place to start for any subject.
Please see this FAQ for extra instructions about accessing EBSCOhost databases or ebooks via screen reader or keyboard navigation. For more help, please contact eproblems@utk.edu.
Gale Academic OneFile
Multidisciplinary full-text and citations database. A great place to begin your research!
- Access provided by the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL).
- Please see this FAQ for additional information about content in Gale databases.
- Please see this FAQ for extra instructions about accessing Gale databases and ebooks via screen reader or keyboard navigation.
  For more help, please contact eproblems@utk.edu.

Census Data
Census data is available from the United States Census Bureau. It includes demographic (age, sex, race, etc.) data from the Decennial Census as well as other surveys such as the American Community Survey.
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
ICPSR has research science data and resources on topics like social media, politics, economics, social sciences, government, GIS, & more.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
FRED, created and maintained by the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is an online database for economic data.

Set up LibKey Nomad to easily access the full-text of scholarly articles
Carefully consider your keywords
Create a search string using the appropriate search tools (like Boolean Operators)
Choose the most relevant library databases
Input your search string into the database's advanced search bar
Narrow or expand your search using the database refinement tools (like publication date, format, subject, etc.)
Browse the results page (paying close attention to the abstract and listed keywords)
Revise search string based on the results page as needed
For datasets, review the available documentation for consistency and thoroughness.
When in doubt, ask your librarian for help!