Before you start searching for online resources, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your project. Are you looking for general knowledge, specific facts, creative ideas, practical skills, or something else? Depending on your purpose, you may need different types of resources. For example, if you want to learn about the history and culture of textiles, you may look for academic articles, books, or documentaries. If you want to get inspired by the latest trends and designs, you may look for blogs, magazines, or social media. If you want to improve your sewing, knitting, or dyeing techniques, you may look for tutorials, videos, or courses.
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Once you have defined your purpose, you need to use relevant keywords to search for online resources. Keywords are the words or phrases that describe your topic and help you find the most relevant results. For example, if you are looking for resources on how to make a quilt, you may use keywords like "quilt making", "quilting tutorials", "quilt patterns", or "quilt tips". You can also use modifiers like "beginner", "advanced", "modern", or "traditional" to narrow down your search. You can also use quotation marks to search for exact phrases, such as "how to make a quilt".
When looking for online resources that match your keywords, it is important to assess their credibility. This refers to how trustworthy and authoritative a source is. You can evaluate the credibility of an online resource by considering the author's qualifications and experience, the date of creation or update, the source of information, and the purpose of the resource. For example, consider the author's reputation or recognition in the industry or academia, whether it is current and relevant to your topic, if it is from a reputable and reliable source such as a university or professional organization, and if it is objective, balanced, and unbiased.
there is a lot out there but how do you check which is fact and which is fiction if you are unfamiliar with a subject? Find a person who can tell you what you need
After you have checked the credibility of an online resource, you need to evaluate its quality. Quality is based on the usefulness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of a source. To evaluate the quality of an online resource, consider its content, design, and interaction. Content should be relevant, factual, and reliable with clear language and grammar. The design should be professional, appealing, and user-friendly with appropriate fonts, colors, images, and graphics. Interaction should offer feedback and activities to help you learn and apply the information. It should also allow you to comment, share or contact the author or other users. Additionally, it should have a community or network to support you.
again how do you check the quality? Wikipedia is always touted as a low quality source but some of the pages are absolutely perfect.
Finally, after you have found and evaluated several online resources, you need to compare and contrast them. This involves looking at the similarities and differences between different sources to gain a broader and deeper understanding of your topic, as well as to identify any gaps, inconsistencies, or controversies. To do this, consider the scope of each resource – how much and how well do they cover your topic? What depth, detail, and examples do they provide? Do they address different perspectives, aspects, or dimensions of your topic? Additionally, look at the style of each resource – what formats, media, or modes of communication do they use? How do they present the information? Do they use different tones, voices, or attitudes? Are they appealing to different audiences, purposes, or interests? Finally, compare the strengths and weaknesses of each resource in terms of credibility, quality, and relevance. How do they complement or contradict each other?
As a professional, it is important to stay on top of trends and understand the importance of motifs and textures, when creating a style. Subscribing to industry publications, both digitally and online. Attending or following experts who attend trade shows, particularly European Textile shows, will give you insight into what is new, trending, and of course classic.