Plant Pathology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are available in library resources. These tools are changing the processes of literature searching, synthesizing, and writing. AI technology offers great opportunities and carries significant limitations. AI can provide personalized learning experiences, contribute to practical skill development, extend accessibility, and enhance research capabilities. However, when incorporating AI based tools, especially generative AI, into your academic or daily activities it is imperative to understand their limitations. Despite appearances, AI models including Large Language Models (LLMs) do not possess the independent thought or the self-awareness of humans. AI can misinform. AI is biased. It is your responsibility to develop AI Literacy. Understand bias and acknowledge limitations of the AI tools you use, use judgement in assessing AI outputs, protect your privacy and prevent academic integrity concerns. UF members have access to UF GPT: Microsoft Copilot, protected by UF-Microsoft data agreement. Be sure to confirm acceptable use of AI tools with your instructors, fellow researchers, and potential publishers.

When evaluating a resource, whether it is print or internet-based, use these questions to help evaluate the credibility of the information and determine if it is a good match for your project or paper:

• Authority
  Who created the resource? Are the author, organization, affiliations, and publisher clearly shown? If the page is web-based does it link to information about the organization? Do the author have credentials or expertise in the subject matter? Is the resource from a government agency, university, company, non-profit organization?

• Accuracy
  Is the information contained in the source properly cited? Is there a bibliography or reference list? Can you verify the information in other sources? Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors? Are the statistical data clearly explained? Are charts and graphs properly represented and cited?

• Objectivity
  Is the resource free of advertising, or is any advertising clearly separated from the content? Is there any bias? Is the sponsoring organization biased or motivated to report facts from a particular perspective?

• Currency
  When was the information gathered? When was the resource created? When was it updated/ revised? Is it kept current? Is currency critical to your topic?

• Coverage
  Is the information complete? Does it cover the subject in depth? Does it match your information needs?

These criteria were adapted from a worksheet used by the Widener Science Library.

Q. What is peer review?

A. For an article to be published in an academic journal, it must be examined by experts in the field. They determine whether the information is reliable, well researched, and of interest to others who study that subject. For a more detailed explaination, watch the video above, or check out the Finding Articles Tutorial.

Q. Which journals have peer-reviewed articles?

A. To find out if a journal publishes peer reviewed (also known as refereed) content, you can filter to peer reviewed in the library catalog or scholarly database. You can check the journal description in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory. The most definitive method is to go to the publisher's website for the journal and read the journal policies for submissions.

Q. How do I know if an article is peer-reviewed?

A. Not every article in a peer-reviewed journal is a peer-reviewed article. Some scholarly journals also publish letters, conference notes, news items, etc. Look at the full text of the article you're interested in. A peer-reviewed article may be identified in a header and may show the dates when the article was submitted, reviewed, and accepted for publication. There is wide variation in how long peer review can take, from a few weeks to many months. The most definitive method to know if an article is peer-reviewed, is to go to the publisher's website and read the journal policies for submissions.

Example: Manuscript received November 9, 2023; revised March 5, 2024. Published September 4, 2024.

Q.   What is a primary source?

A.   Primary documents are the original source materials.

In the sciences lab data, lab notebooks, and original test protocols are considered primary documents.  Source code and release notes, field observation notes or images are also primary documents.

Journal articles are primary or first reports of research.  Books, encyclopedias, and news articles are secondary (or later) sources because they describe what you will find in the primary sources.