User:Prosperosity/Guide

Best sources for information
The best sources of information for historical information in a Wikipedia article are those that have a citation that can be easily traced and located, sources that have gone through a peer review process, and sources that consider multiple perspectives on a topic. Some places to find this information include:


 * Google Scholar - often some of the best information on geology and history can be found through Google Scholar, however many articles aren't accessible online (and many 20th Century articles may not be up-to-date)
 * Waitangi Tribunal documents ("Deed of Settlement" documents available at www.govt.nz) - extensive research has been done for Waitangi Tribunal claims and settlements on pre-European and early colonial history, often including details and perspectives not found in traditional history resources.
 * Auckland Council website. When council documents such as Local Area Plans and resource consent documents are created, many include Cultural Values Assessments and historical documents, where Auckland Council historians and researchers collaborate with local stakeholders
 * Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
 * Institution websites: the Auckland Museum, Te Papa, National Library, etc.
 * Papers Past - many articles from sources such as the Auckland Star, New Zealand Herald etc can include wonderful information. The articles may have OCR scanning issues (i.e. the computer scanning software doesn't recognise the text properly), so sometimes information is hard to find by keywords.
 * Local history books (found at local libraries, through local historical societies and at the museum reading room) - sometimes have not gone through a peer review process.

Limitations of source material
Historical documents (e.g. scholarly articles from the 1800s, Papers Past articles) may have potential issues compared to modern sources. They may not consider Māori perspectives, may have inaccuracies, and may bowdlerise information that would not have been appropriate to publish in newspapers at the time. Be careful, and try to find a modern source for information if possible!