When you're in the middle of a hot-and-heavy discussion, citing your sources can be quite helpful in supporting your opinion. When you cite a source, please include a link to the site so that others can read for themselves. However, also make sure that the site is one that's appropriate for a PG-13 forum.

Some sources have a bias, e.g. liberal or conservative, and that can radically affect how they approach a topic. Don't be surprised if the bias is evaluated and pointed out in the course of a discussion.

Wikipedia--this is a good starting source for a lot of discussions here, but don't use it as your be-all, end-all source--the authors of a given article can be just as biased as any other website. Since the articles can be altered and are not peer-reviewed, there may be mistakes or outright disinformation in some of the entries. The bibliography in each entry is valuable for the links to other sites, so check those out as potential sources.

Feel free to post other comments about sources and citations here.

Thanks for this topic, Jae. As for the PG-13 warning, I never thought of that. I'll try to remember in the future.

Achilles gets credit, too--the idea for this thread got generated from an idea he suggested to the staff.

Can I just recommend Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) for use in debates/discussions regarding science? Seeing as how anyone can write anything and put it on the internet, it helps to have a bank of genuine articles from people who know what they're talking about. Google Scholar allows you to search through this bank.

Basically means that you can access the information you want without fear of it being something Joe Bloggs has made up :).

Figured this was as good a thread as any to post some links to fact-checking services as well. Please bear in mind, that just because 'fact' may be in the name, doesn't make so. Don't be surprised if your argument is still held under scrutiny or challenged in a debate. It is up to you to defend your statements.. these sites are only to aid you in your search for sources. :)

FactCheck.Org (http://www.factcheck.org) - Most recognized political fact-checking site I can think of.
PolitiFact (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/) - Another political fact-checking site by St. Petersburg Times
Truth Or Fiction (http://www.truthorfiction.com/) - Fact-Checking/Rumor-Checking site on a number of different subjects. Politics, Religion... etc. Seems to be news/headline related concerning the section topics.

If you have more links to fact checking, rumor checking or any other (non-partisan, non-profit) source related sites... please feel free to share the links. :)