I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Matthews, a chemistry professor at the University of Montevallo, about her views on information.
Kayla Pilkington: Why did you choose the textbook?
Dalila Matthews: The current text book was chosen because at the time of publication it was one of the only text books to do an “atoms first” approach to chemistry. The traditional textbooks up to that point started off talking about molecules and then breaking the molecules down into smaller units. The chemistry faculty felt that the atoms first approach would be better for the students.
KP: If you were to assign a research project, what type of places would up prefer you students looked for information? What types places would you prefer your students did not look?
DM: I would prefer students to look for books on the subject matter and look in peer reviewed scientific journals. I would caution students about using unverified sources of information. Most unverified information is obtained with the internet. That being said, I use the internet on a daily basis to look up information. It helps to already know a little about the subject matter so you can determine if the information on the website seems trustworthy. When using the internet, look in more than one place and compare the information. If you are getting conflicting information you know you need to dig a little deeper to get usable information.
KP: Have you ever heard of site like Jove? Do you consider sites such as this one a reliable source of information?
DM: I am not familiar with Jove but did take a look at the website. It is a very interesting idea but I would need to look deeper into their review process before I could be certain it is reliable. As before, I would most likely use it at first with subject matters I knew something about to gauge the reliability.
KP: Whenever you were in college, where did you find most of your information?
DM: In college I used mainly print library sources such as books and journal articles. I did use the internet but not as much information was available then as there is now.
KP: Where do you notice that most of your students find their information?
DM: Most students find information using a search engine like Google and websites like Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a good starting point for any project but I do not like my students to cite only Wikipedia. I prefer they go to the references and look up the primary source of the information.
I also interviewed one of Dr. Matthews students, Anonymous
Kayla Pilkington: Do you use your textbook on a regular basis?
Anonymous: I do not use the textbook except for homework problems. Which the teacher could copy and handout.
KP: Do you feel it was a waste of money to buy your textbook?
A: It was a huge waste of money.
KP:Whenever you need information , do you usually look more towards online resources or your book?
A: I look online for all of my information. I go straight to Google.