Thread: How to find reliable information easily?

Hi

Often i find difficult to get reliable information in the internet, when searching controversial topics.
For example i was searching about vegetarianism in wikipedia, and most where anecdotal information. But nothing about hard science: the trophological implications, the permacultural link vegetarianism - foreign plant species, experimental groups, the hitler's vegetarian diet (appears in a well-documented biography), hindu diet investigation, animal cognition - the moral status of animals, etc

Originally Posted by PhDemon

Why, you will only ignore it as you did all the reliable information you were given in your evolution thread.

Of course i accept the evolution!! Why you insist on it? I'm a neophyte, just want to understand the processes in deep; know evolution although incomplete explain a vast variety of observations.

Wikipedia is probably suitable for understanding evolution. Just don't go changing the articles to suite your opinion.

Get a subscription to Science.

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

Get a subscription to Science.

ha ha ha. good. I was referring to searchings in internet. Often in the the excerpts of the amazon books don't appear the background, the status of the author. When i wanted to buy a book on permaculture i can't know if the author was an amateur or an expert professional of the subject.

The same happened when i find a book about hotel administration of Cornell University. The first pages seemed full of glib, then i thought it is not a good business to publish all their secrets in a book.

Try running your search through Google Scholar setting.

Additionally run the -.com Boolean search, which will remove most commersial and advertising crap links.

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Additionally run the -.com Boolean search, which will remove most commersial and advertising crap links.

you mean when googling, to write -.com at the end of my phrase?

Originally Posted by bezoar

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Additionally run the -.com Boolean search, which will remove most commersial and advertising crap links.

you mean when googling, to write -.com at the end of my phrase?

Yes

Could you recommend me a book about How to Find Reliable Information, please?
Since many years ago i'm trying to find information or buy a book about scientific vegetarianism, but only found charlatans.

Idiot's Guide to Search Engines? Not sure if they've had to stoop down to that level to cater to such fools. I'm currently waiting in their highly anticipated book "Idiot's Guide To Properly Lighting Matches"

Originally Posted by bezoar

Could you recommend me a book about How to Find Reliable Information, please?
Since many years ago i'm trying to find information or buy a book about scientific vegetarianism, but only found charlatans.

Find a librarian. Most will amaze you with a treasure trove of online and paper search techniques and be delighted, especially is their library supports a nursing program or something similar.

Originally Posted by Lynx_Fox

Originally Posted by bezoar

Could you recommend me a book about How to Find Reliable Information, please?
Since many years ago i'm trying to find information or buy a book about scientific vegetarianism, but only found charlatans.

Find a librarian. Most will amaze you with a treasure trove of online and paper search techniques and be delighted, especially is their library supports a nursing program or something similar.

A crap, man! Where i live bookstores, universitary libraries, etc, are all a perfect Crap.

I wanna plan a healthiest diet as possible. There is nothing in the web about the inexistence of vegetal sources of the essential aminoacid valine, the spirulina controversy, serious medical research on vegetarianism, etc. I want to improve my health, and feel vegetalism fits great in my body, and meat affects me, but need to know the scientific basis of proper food combinations.

My work is intelectual and for this reason requires high nutrition for not risk my health.

do something witchy!!

How i can be sure GNC b-12 are safe for a lifetime...á. How i know Kentucky F. Chicken, McDonald Scrooge McDuck are not conspirin' the b-12 stuff?...

I trusted & passionatelly adored the american spirit until fat work class guys emerged in my tv SUPERMAN DINER FIGHT IN THE END - YouTube. Started to snubb & distrust scientist.

Move your fat ass & do somethin wicci!!

was a darling Clementine joke.

Originally Posted by bezoar

Where i live bookstores, universitary libraries, etc, are all a perfect Crap.

I find that hard to believe.

No, hang on. That's not right. I find that impossible to believe.

I wanna plan a healthiest diet as possible.

Eat a balanced diet of vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals, meat and fish. Make sure as much as possible is fresh. Avoid processed food. Avoid supplements.

do something witchy!!

OK. You are hereby cursed to search forever for a non-existent "perfect" diet.

Wikipedia itself may not be overwhelmingly reliable, but at the bottom of every article there are links to the sources.

Generally, if you want reliable information on any topic, you should find research papers or articles.... etc.... and then read their listed sources.

Almost all academic literature cites its source. Even if the source is getting its information from yet another source, which is getting its information from yet another source...... if you follow the chain of references back far enough you'll eventually find the original research/data/evidence.

The hard way.
Also logic is your best friend when doing it the hard way.

Originally Posted by kojax

if you follow the chain of references back far enough you'll eventually find the original research/data/evidence.

Which turns out to be ... Wikipedia!

http://xkcd.com/978/

Reliable information...
Not possible!
Unless you mean "accurate to within believable limits".
Just about everything gets revised over time.

It depends on the subject I suppose, but I've even found (disappointingly) that books aren't reliable.

On actual science subjects then the relevant, CURRENT, textbooks would be a good start, (assuming you don't have access to the absolute latest scientific papers) - but bear in mind that according to, er some book I read, even school/ college textbooks are 10-15 years out of date and don't reflect current knowledge.
On non-science subjects the only way is to read as many books on the subject as possible, and balance the viewpoints given.

Personal example: in WWII Germany supposedly conquered the Low Countries and France using the revolutionary technique of Blitzkrieg. Since the end of WWII there have been more books written about Blitzkrieg, how it came about, how it worked, how it was implemented, what effects it's had on armies since it was so devastatingly introduced than even I can read (let alone buy).
SIXTY YEARS of analysis.
And then I bought this.

Using original German documents from the relevant period this guy has shown, conclusively, ¹ that Blitzkrieg did not exist at all.
There was no such thing.
It never existed.
It was a complete myth.

60 years of historians and military analysts - wrong.
In fact not even wrong - utterly, pointlessly, invalid. They may as well have been writing scientific treatises on how many angels can dance on a pin head.
W. T. F?


The more you learn the easier it becomes to distinguish the validity of any given book/ paper/ claim. I've lost count of the number of books I've got rid of, despite paying hard cash for them, upon realising they were simply wrong.

1 When I say "conclusively" I do, of course, mean " until someone comes along and shows, equally "conclusively" that Frieser was mistaken...

i dont know if anything is reliable with respect to knowledge(not information mind you). They say that Math is beautiful and pure knowledge(hence reliable as logical). They also have not been able to catch the GOD particle conclusively. That leaves religion and math. I am sure about religion not math though. It is important to know about what you need reliable information. If you have got the patience you can go ahead and collate vital information (contradictory )on some subject and make your own conclusions. You can even submit a PAPER.

Originally Posted by parag29081973

They also have not been able to catch the GOD particle conclusively.

How conclusively are you talking, here?

Originally Posted by parag29081973

i dont know if anything is reliable with respect to knowledge(not information mind you). They say that Math is beautiful and pure knowledge(hence reliable as logical). They also have not been able to catch the GOD particle conclusively. That leaves religion and math. I am sure about religion not math though.

This is ridiculous.
The "conclusive" finding of the Higgs (or not) has nothing whatsoever to do with the reliability of knowledge from science.
If scientific knowledge weren't reliable we wouldn't, for example, be having this particular conversation.
And as for "That leaves religion and math" can you give us examples where religion has produced reliable knowledge?

reliable information easily on the internet?
like looking for a virgin in a whore house
good luck