Locating information, whether in traditional print format or in electronic format, is only the first step in doing research. The next step is to evaluate the quality and the usefulness of what you find.
To begin searching for reliable sources online, try a search string like this in Google or another search engine, using termsrelevant to your topic, for example:
site:.edu traditional Chinese medicine
site:.edu TCM
You can also try the same search limiting to site:org rather than site:edu BUT:
.EDU = educational institution
.ORG = organization, which can mean almost ANY kind of noncorporate organization. If you aren't familiar with the organization, do some research on it! Who are they? What do they promote? Are they reliable?
In this era of "fake news," it's important to not just trust a website's About page.
Use Google and other sources to research the authors, organizations, or institutions responsible for the page and for its funding.
(Wikipedia can be useful for getting an overview of an organization)
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For more information about evaluating websites, see the Evaluating Information tab, above.
There are a lot of websites on the Internet that may be relevant for your research. You need to be careful, however, as not all Web sites provide authoritative or trustworthy information.
Ask yourself the following questions when evaluating information on freely-available sites:
