Chapter 8: Knowledge, Intuition, and Trust

Recommended sources on critical thinking and media literacy:

Learning about propaganda, http://www.propagandacritic.com
Listing of reviewed sites on the Web, http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/
Science_in_Society/Skeptical_Inquiry/Critical_Thinking/?il=1

Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (Prentice Hall, 6th Ed. 2000) M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley
Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User Friendly Manual (Prentice Hall, 3rd Ed. 2000) Sherry Diestler
How to Watch TV News (Penguin USA, 1992) Neil Postman and Steve Powers

Urban Legends Reference Pages, http://www.snopes.com/snopes.asp

Hoaxbusters, http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

The following resources are also recommended for learning strategies and finding tips for evaluating business information quality on the Web.

Print sources – Books:

Finding Market Research on the Web (MarketResearch.com, 2003). By Robert Berkman. How to find and evaluate market research reports and conduct market research on the Web. Written by the author of this book and published in 2001; an updated version was published in 2003 by Sheri Lanza.

Find It Fast: How to Uncover Expert Information on Any Subject (HarperCollins, 5th ed, 2000). By Robert Berkman. Find It Fast is geared primarily to consumers, but contains an extensive discussion on how to evaluate the quality of Internet-based sources.

The Investigative Reporters Handbook (IRE, 4th ed, 2002). By Brant Houston, Len Bruzzese, and Steve Weinberg. How to investigate anyone or anything from top investigative reporters from a highly respected journalism association.

The Invisible Web (CyberAge Books, 2001). By Chris Sherman and Gary Price. Excellent guide for finding sources on the Net that search engines cannot retrieve. These are often high quality sites, such as databases and library catalogs, and may be of great worth to researchers.

The Modern Researcher (Wadsworth, 6th ed, 2003). By Jacques Barzun and Henry J. Graff. The bible for all types of serious researchers. The Modern Researcher is not at all focused on electronic sources or Internet research, but does provides the fundamentals of how any good researcher needs to approach his or her subject, and how to assess the veracity and trustworthiness of all kinds of information sources.

Web of Deception (CyberAge, 2002). Edited by Forbes’ Chief Knowledge Officer Anne Mintz, this book provides a series of essays from expert searchers covering different perspectives on how to avoid encountering bad data and misinformation on the Web.

Print sources – Journals and newsletters:

The Information Advisor, Information Today, Medford, NJ; (609) 654-6266. Monthly newsletter. Founded and edited by the author of this book. Focuses on comparing and evaluating competing business information sources.

The CyberSkeptic’s Guide to Internet Research, Information Today, Medford, NJ. (609) 654-6266. Monthly newsletter. Founded by Ruth Orenstein of BiblioData. CyberSkeptic reviews and analyzes information sources on the Web.

Web sources:

ConsumerWebWatch, http://www.consumerwebwatch.org

A spin-off of Consumer Reports, this site’s mission is to help consumers evaluate Web sites and know who can be trusted online.
Fuld & Company Inc., http://www.fuld.com
Fuld & Company is a competitive intelligence firm founded and operated by well-known CI author and expert, Leonard Fuld. The site provides various tips and sources on conducting business research on the Web.

The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), http://www.scip.org

A large and well-known association of analysts, researchers, and others who work in the competitive intelligence industry.

Competia, http://www.competia.com

A competitive intelligence “community” with a magazine, library, conferences, resources, and tools for persons in the field of strategic planning, business research, knowledge management, and related fields.

Discussion groups:

BUSLIB-L, http://www.willamette.edu/~gklein/buslib.htm

A high quality mailing list discussion group for business librarians, who share research strategies, ideas, and new resources and pose their own difficult business research questions.