Research of documents in libraries would appear more legitimate. This search can lead to scholarly journals containing peer-reviewed articles, which means scholars in that field have approved them. Also, journals discovered by means of a library search are more reputable than most journals found online. It is easy to post just about anything online. An online search may reveal some interesting peer-reviewed articles, but then again it will probably also reveal some truly crackpot articles and websites. And it may be difficult to distinguish the valid from the invalid information.

I need to critically evaluate the articles I use for my question which is “ how the internet affects academic history writing in Canada.’’ The articles must be peer-reviewed and contain points backed up by reliable research. I must look at the arguments and points used to validate the arguments. My specific area involves academic history writing, not just any form of academic writing.

Just as it  is important to read documents containing citations that prove their point it is also important to cite from articles, under the form of a paraphrase or quote, in order to develop my literature review. It is necessary to prove that reliable sources were used.

My topic does seem broad but there is actually a shortage of literature on the subject even when I use google scholar. The articles I have found do not deal specifically with the subject but refer to the topic in sections. The best articles were found through the library search engines Jstor and Project Muse.