ENGL 127 Research Writing: Social Sciences (Wilber)

The Podcast Project: For students enrolled in English 127 with Ari Wilber

Strategic Web Searches

(Click on video to open in another window)
Source: "Searching Google Effectively" by Joshua Vossler, UWF Libraries, Educational use.

Criminal Justice Advocacy Organizations

Search the Web for non-profit organizations devoted to criminal justice advocacy and work.

  • Look for an ABOUT US to learn about the mission and point of view of all organizations, so you understand the point of view and agenda of that group.

Find additional organizations online that are working on criminal justice issues. 

  • Search criminal justice site:.org

Criminal Justice Statistics

There are many web sites devoted to criminal justice, prison reform, restorative justice, alternative sentencing, youth rights, sentencing disparity, racial profiling and much more.

Be sure to assess:

  • Is the information reliable?
  • Who is publishing it - and why?

The sites below provides statistics and other data on crime and criminal justice in the United States:

Use Google Advanced Search

Use Google Advanced Search for power searching. Note your ability to limit to one particular domain (.gov, .edu, .org):

But is it a good web site?

How can you determine if you have a "good" web site? 

Think critically! Don't just take the first result in Google! Think about the following:

AUTHORITY and ACCURACY

  • Who publishes the website?  Is this a well-known or respected institution?

  • Is there contact information for authors of the website content?  What is their background or credentials?

  • Is it a commercial site (.com), a government site (.gov), an educational site (.edu), a non-profit or other organization (.org)? How does this affect the information presented?

  • Do other reliable sites link to this one?

  • Are facts, ideas or references credible and backed up by citations to the original sources?

PURPOSE and OBJECTIVITY

  • What is the purpose of this site: to sell, inform, entertain or persuade?

  • Who sponsors this website?  What is their agenda or goal?

  • For what audience is this site written?

  • Is there an explicit or hidden bias behind the information presented?

  • Is there advertising on the site? Does this influence information found on the site?

  • Are arguments well-reasoned and supported?

CURRENCY

  • Is the information on the page up-to-date?

  • Is the page updated regularly?

  • Are there dead links?