JOUR 480: History of American News Media

The Internet can provide a valuable source of information. Check out the University Library's Reading Laterally for Fact Checking page for in-depth strategies to critically think about the authority, bias, accuracy, currency, and coverage of the information you find. For more information see the resources on this page to support you in effectively reviewing internet sources. 

• Stanford University's Lateral Reading and Civic Online Reasoning resources
• Fair: How to Check Bias in the News Media

Advanced Google Searching

Google offers many search techniques to help refine results, similar to what can be done in a library database. For example:

Enclose keywords in quotes to search an exact phrase: "san fernando valley"

Enclose in parentheses and separate with OR to retrieve any of those keywords in the results: (csun OR "california state university northridge")

Add a minus sign to remove webpages containing a keyword or phrase: -parking

Limit search to specific website: site:.calstate.edu

Limit search to specific domain: site:.gov

Limit results by date of last update: From the results screen, click Search Tools and select time period from the Anytime menu

Get definitions or explanations of terms: define keyword/phrase, i.e., define "fiscal cliff"

Watch the Advanced Google Searching video for more help.

See also: Web Search Help for more tips and tricks for searching Google.