Stranger Sources - What to Trust When Everything Looks Sketchy

• No quality control: Google shows everything: blogs, opinion pieces, news, and outdated info. There’s no guarantee that what you find has been reviewed by experts, also these may have paywalls.
• Popular: Results rise to the top because of popularity or advertising, not because they’re the most accurate or scholarly.
  • https://www.google.com/books/edition/SEO_Made_Easy_How_to_Win_Clients_and_Inf/FsVeDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
• Paywalls block full access: Many research articles are behind paywalls.
  • paywall example: https://www.theverge.com/features/23931789/seo-search-engine-optimization-experts-google-results
• Google might show only a preview or summary: you’ll often need a library database for full access.
• Hidden bias: Some websites look trustworthy but actually push opinions, products, or agendas. It’s not always easy to spot bias right away.
• Misinformation and old sources: Not everything online is accurate or current. Outdated or false information can spread fast and rank high in searches.
• No academic filters: Unlike library databases, Google can’t easily limit results to peer-reviewed or subject-specific sources: so you have to sort through a lot more noise.

• Google Search Can Be Used as a starting point
• Good for getting a sense of the topic, terminology, major reports (like the IPCC), key concepts (vulnerability, exposure, adaptation).
• Use that to identify the vocabulary and some credible sources.
• Can you find trustworthy information via a simple Google search, especially for broad topics like “climate change vulnerability.” 
  • Yes
• But relying only on that is risky for research. You’ll likely miss deeper, more rigorous scholarship, run into sources of unknown quality, and your results may be skewed by algorithmic and SEO factors rather than academic merit.

Algonquin College Library. “Why Can’t I Just Google for My Research?”
Algonquin College Library FAQ, 2024, https://algonquincollege.libanswers.com/faq/202290.

“Audit of Academic Search Engines: Bias, Transparency, and Reliability.” arXiv, 2023, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.09969.

Harvard University. “Evaluating Sources.” Using Sources Effectively, Harvard College Writing Program, 2023, https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/evaluating-sources-0.

Library of Antiquity. “Don’t Google for Bibliography!” The Library of Antiquity Blog, 8 Apr. 2017, https://libraryofantiquity.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/dont_google_for_bibliography/.

University of Iowa Libraries. “Is Google Scholar a Good Source for Research?” Ask a Librarian FAQ, 2023, https://ask.lib.uiowa.edu/faq/400284.

University of Windsor Libraries. “Search Engines vs. Google Scholar vs. Library Databases.” Leddy Library, 2024, https://leddy.uwindsor.ca/get-help/guides/search-engines-vs-google-scholar-vs-library-databases.

“Is Google Scholar Reliable?” IsItReliable.com, 2023, https://itisreliable.com/is-google-scholar-reliable.

SpringerLink. “Ranking by Relevance: How It Affects Search Results in Academic and General Databases.” Education and Information Technologies, 2024, https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42438-024-00530-z.pdf.