Academic Research

My topic of research this week is pop culture. I think that many of us in this class can relate to some form of pop culture in our individual and social lives. I chose the topic, because of the information that is available in print and the Internet. The first place I looked was the Oregon State Library database. I knew that reliable information can be found at a credible university. I also tried organization web pages that dealt with pop culture to get some information as well.

Information is everywhere on the Internet, existing in large quantities and is always being created and revised. This information exists in a large variety of kind’s facts, opinions, stories, in statistics and is created for many purposes to inform, to persuade, to sell, to present a viewpoint, and to create or change an attitude or belief. For each of these various kinds and purposes, information exists on many levels of quality or reliability. It ranges from very good to very bad and includes every shade in between.

When evaluating your sources, I usually ask if I'm looking for facts, opinions, reviews, stats for my research. Thinking about what you’re looking for beforehand can speed up finding sources. When I look at potential information on the Internet, I look at the author's source of information. I would check the title of the author or organization that they belong to. Looking for a biography or past experiences about the author can give good insight in whether the information is truthful and correct. One important one that many tend to forget is a contact number or email. Contacting the author(s) can give you more feedback on their research you are looking for. I also think that if a source is in print and on the web that tells me that the work has been through peer review several times, such as journal articles.

Sometimes we forget that not all information from the Internet is credible. Some signs that I follow when looking around the Internet is the style and tone and writing which can give you a heads up. Another way of finding non-credible sources is the bad grammar and misspelled words. This is a huge given to be cautious about that information. I found that many information is not dated, which mean its inaccurate most of the time. These small problems or mistakes really helped me determine what’s credible in the Internet.I also think that search engines help in finding non-credible sources which many students take advantage of to speed up the research and time.

Being in a professor’s position, I would limit the search to journal articles and literature reviews from credible web sites and the university library. I would also take interviews which can help as well. Knowing that professors are loaded with work, I would not waste time in looking for sources that are not reliable. By limiting the search to a few can lighten the load for professors. This also gives the professor a certain web site page to search all of the information and citations, such as the university library database.

Postman talks about technology itself as a means of providing clear direction and information control. In this case many people assume they are providing clear information on the Internet which is not the case all the time. In my interpretation is that we are filled with all kinds of information, and many think it’s a reliable source to start a research paper. I think that having good sense of control of what you’re looking for can help enormously. I also think that institutions such as OSU have a good deal of control of information that is available to students and staff. I guess you can call it a reliable filter of information that is credible.


Maginnis, Robert L. "Parents want help fighting pop culture's influence." Headway 8.2 (Feb. 1996): 22



Browne, Ray B. "Pop Art and the Contest over American Culture by Sara Doris." Journal of American Culture 30.3 (Sep. 2007): 354-355.



Wilson, Robert N. "Pop Culture in America (Book)." American Sociological Review 36.4 (Aug. 1971): 766-767.