Conspiracy Theories

Your best approach to finding sources really depends on the conspiracy theory that you choose. Some conspiracy theories are classic and have been around for a long time, such as conspiracies involving the assassination of JFK or the moon landing. For those kinds of conspires you'll probably find plenty of resources including books, articles, even scholarly articles. For some more recent conspiracy theories you may only find news articles or possibly just web sites. 

1. Start with OneSearch

OneSearch let's you search almost all of the Library's database all at once so you'll save time and still find the best books, news or scholarly articles and media for your topic. 

2. Next, Try Websites

If you have no luck in OneSearch you probably have a very recent conspiracy theory and will have to rely on websites. Your challenge is finding credible information. If you are relying on websites make sure you use the techniques below to evaluate them.  

• Try starting with sites that review news, such as Snopes, FactCheck or Hoaxy. 
• Try Google Scholar which restricts search results to scholarly sources. 
• Try Google and make sure to evaluate the sources you find. 

Tip: Add Terms Like conspiracy to your search

No matter where you start your search, you can experiment with adding terms like consipoary plus you topic to get more focused results. 

Example

• moon landing conspiracy
• moon landing debunked

Terms to Add with your Topic

• conspiracy
• denial
• fake
• hoax
• debunk

As a college student you know that your job is to evaluate the sources you use for your papers, presentations and research. But how do you do it?

These steps are most appropriate for sources available from the library, but they can be tweaked for web and news sources. Get tips for spotting fake sites, fake news and media bias. 

Find the author’s credentials
Look for information like the author's education, experience, occupation, position, and other publications by the author to help you determine whether the author knows about their subject.

• Articles
  Articles may or may not present credentials. Popular magazines usually just list the author's name, but sometimes even that is not listed. Articles in professional or scholarly journals may list credentials at the beginning or end of an article and usually include the name of the author and details that pertain to their expertise on the topic, such as education, occupation or college or university at which the author teaches on the subject. (see the chart below under 5. Review and Editing).
• Books
  The credentials of the author of a book are frequently on the jacket, or at the beginning of a book.
• Websites
  Websites, like articles, may or may not present credentials. A common place for Websites to list credentials is at the top or bottom of the page. You may have to go back to the home page of the site to see credentials. If credentials are not listed, that does not mean that the author has no expertise, but it does make it hard for you to evaluate whether he/she/they do and that means the sources may not be appropriate for college level research.

What sources did the author use?
The amount and type of documentation used affects the value of your source and may help you verify the facts or conclusions presented. Resources that include documentation are considered more reliable and scholarly and are more suitable for college level research.

Your instructors know that having documentation makes it easier to evaluate a work--that's why it's usually required on your research papers! Documentation of sources includes: 

• Bibliography
• Sources Cited
• References
• Footnotes
• Endnotes 
• Credits
• Quotations

Where to find the documentation
Documentation is usually at the end of a book, article, or Web page.

The date of publication can affect the value of a source. 
If you are researching computer information, even a year old may be obsolete. If you are researching literature, resources that are 50 years old may still be valid. So when your source was written can make a difference on how much value it can bring to your research, or even if it can be used. 

Frequently your instructor may restrict your resources to a given time period relative to the subject, such as no older then 5 years.

The publication info is also what you will need to use to make a citation for your source if you did not grab a citation from OneSearch for books or from our databases for articles, eBooks or streaming media. Websites generally make it a little harder to gather that info and cite, but Zoterobib can help you out there if the website has made that info available. 

• Books
  Date of publication should be clearly listed at the front of a book or periodical.
• Articles
  Date of publication should be clearly listed at the front of a book or periodical.
• Websites
  Websites may have this information, usually at the bottom of the page.

Reviewed or edited articles are more closely scrutinized to help ensure accuracy and value. Books are submitted by authors to publishers who review them before they agree to publish the book. Professional or scholarly articles go through the most evaluation and tend to be the most accurate and credible. Websites vary, but many have no review, fact checking or editing, can be very inaccurate and are generally the least credible. 

• Where to find in Books or Articles
  Check the front of the periodical or book for information on the editing, review and selection process for that periodical. Some databases such as Gale PowerSearch, OneSearch and OneFile, ProQuest PowerSearch let you limit your search to scholarly or peer reviewed journals.

• Where to Find on Websites
  Websites may have this information at the beginning or end of a page or on the home page of the site, but are much less likely to have been reviewed. 

These sites collect and review news stories. Use then to see if the story you are wondering about is true.