It is important to validate any information you receive from official, true sources. Here is a concise guide on how to do so:
- General Conference talks as far back as 1971 can be validated by inserting parts of the quotes in the search field at lds.org
- General Conference talks prior to 1971 (as early as 1850) have been archived at corpus.byu.edu/gc
- Any material published on the church’s website can be validating by searching Google for the search terms + site:lds.org
- History of the Church is archived at byustudies.byu.edu/hc/hcpgs/hc.aspx
- Journal of Discourses is archived at jod.mrm.org (BYU has disabled their digitized text version for unknown reasons but all texts can still be verified by comparing to the PDF scans at http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/search/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3)
- BYU devotionals are archived at speeches.byu.edu
- CES devotionals are archived at lds.org/broadcasts/ces-devotionals
- Church news releases (some as far back as 2001) can be validated at mormonnewsroom.org
- LDS.org essays on troubling topics are linked directly from http://mormonessays.com/how-to-find-on-lds-dot-org as described here
- Original 19th-century source materials (texts and books) can be validated at archive.org or http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search (advanced search allows you to narrow the time frame to prior to ~1828 if desired)
Another method of validation is to search for an excerpt of the quotation you are validating, and then locating valid source sites for the material being quoted.
The information presented on this website has been carefully validated from the above listed sources, insofar as it is possible. Where is was not possible, other credible sources were sought and cited. I welcome any questions or contributions you may have regarding the validity of anything posted herein.
Source validation is important for maintaining the integrity of your research in your quest of truth. Please let me know if you need any assistance validating any material you find, and best of luck!
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