Evaluating Sources

Find the Right Sources For Your Topic

Different resources serve different purposes and provide varying levels and types of expertise. It's important to consider which type of publication or format is best for your assignment. You also want to feel confident that a source is giving you good information. Here are some tips on determining if a resource is right for you. 

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Author

Who is the author? Why are they writing this resource? Do they have expertise, experience, or knowledge on this topic?

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Evidence

Does the author cite their sources either in-text, with hyperlinks, or at the end of their article in a list of references? Who do they cite? 

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Publication

What type of publication is your resource in? It could be a newspaper, magazine, scholarly peer-reviewed journal, book, blogpost, etc. 

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Relevance

Does the source help answer your research question? Was it published recently or does the publication date affect the relevance to your topic? 

Knowing who wrote an article or book and why can enhance your understanding of the resource. Consider if the author is trying to inform, entertain, or persuade you of something. Similarly, if they are aiming to inform or persuade, what evidence do they provide to back up their claims? If the author fails to be transparent about their sources, there is no way to validate their claims. 

Not only is it important to consider the overall credibility of a source, but to also think about what type of source is best for your assignment. For example, if you are writing about a current event, newspaper articles are likely to produce the most up-to-date information, rather than a peer-reviewed journal, which goes through a lengthy publication process. 

All of these factors ultimately lead to relevance. What resources are going to best answer your research question with quality, well-researched and transparent information? 

What is Peer-Review? 

A peer-reviewed journal contains articles of vetted scholarship. The peer review process means an article has been reviewed and checked for validity by other experts in the same field. The work is either recommend for publication or rejected. These sources are sometimes referred to as juried, academic, or scholarly. 

Understanding Source Types

There are many different kinds of writing and publications, and it's important to understand the context in which those pieces of writing take place. 

Scholarly and Peer-reviewed Sources

Scholarly sources are written by experts in a specific field and are often published in academic journals. Peer-reviewed sources are scholarly works that have been evaluated by experts in the same field before publication to ensure their accuracy and quality.

Examples

Popular Sources

Popular sources are written for a general audience, rather than for experts in a particular field, and are typically found in magazines, newspapers, websites, and books. These sources are usually not vetted by experts in the field before being published.

Examples

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original materials created at the time of an event or topic under study.

Examples

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are created by scholars and writers who analyze and interpret primary sources, scholarly works, or other materials. They provide a synthesis of existing research and analysis.

Examples

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources are reference materials that provide summaries or collections of information. These sources synthesize information from secondary sources.

Examples

Handouts and Other Resources

Try using this checklist when evaluating a resource (click to view and download)

An online  guide to evaluating resources for your assignments. 

An online guide to help determine if something you find online is misinformation, disinformation, or something else. 

Here is a short video on authorship and expertise