Tips

Tips for Doing Online Research as an MGV

  • Googling is fine!  A good tip is to use “extension” as a search term after you type in your other key words.  This will bring up information provided by Extension groups throughout the country.
  • Appropriate resources include:  Extension publications or factsheets; university publications; information from botanical gardens
  • You can feel more confident in information from websites with a “.edu”, “.gov”, or “.org” at the end of the website address.  This means they are either university, government, or non-profit organization.  Sites ending in “.com” are less trustworthy.
  • Resist the urge to use sources related to gardening celebrities unless they link back to a more scholarly source.

Tips for responding to posts

Some good ways to reply to one of your classmate’s posts include:

  • A question:  “Hey, I’m not sure I understood what you meant by _______.  Can you explain it again?”
  • A respectful opinion:  “I read what you wrote and I agree/respectfully disagree.  Have you considered this point in this way……?”
  • A (brief) personal experience:  “I have had direct experience with this in my volunteering.  Here’s what happened……”
  • Share a resource:  “Here’s the title of a book I read on this very subject……”
  • Positive encouragement: “What you said is interesting, here’s what I learned from your post…   “

We strongly encourage everyone to respond back to anyone who takes the time to respond to you!  Think of this like a regular conversation– you wouldn’t just walk away from someone after they said something to you!  Instead, you’d politely respond back.  Same applies here.  Enjoy conversing and learning with volunteers all around the state.

You should receive an emailed notification if someone replies to a post you have made, even with the Notifications feature turned off.  When this happens, drop in to the Community and reply to your fellow MGV.  Feel free to check the Community at any time to see what other classmates are saying.

Note: We do reserve the right to remove any content from the site for any reason, including but not limited to content deemed threatening, obscene, a violation of intellectual property rights or privacy laws, or otherwise injurious or illegal. Public opinions/comments posted on this site do not necessarily reflect those of UW-Extension/UW Colleges.