If you want to use a source that fits into this category, then carefully evaluate it using criteria below. Generally, avoid using these as final sources. Questionable Sources are often written primarily to attract a large readership or to present the author’s opinions, and they are not subject to careful review.Examples: news stories and feature articles (print or online) from reputable newspapers, magazines, or organizations, such as The New York Times or the Public Broadcasting Service popular magazine articles, which may or may not be carefully researched and fact checked documents by businesses and nonprofit organizations. Textbooks and reference books are usually reliable, but they may not cover a topic in great depth. Some, such as popular magazine articles or company brochures, may be written to market a product or a cause. Varied Quality Sources are often useful however, they do not cover subjects in as much depth as high-quality sources, and they are not always rigorously researched and reviewed.Examples: books published by University presses and articles in scholarly journals, such as Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature trade books and magazines geared toward an educated general audience, such as Smithsonian Magazine government documents documents by reputable organizations, such as universities and research institutes. They are written and reviewed by subject-matter experts. High Quality Sources provide the most in-depth information.Use the following descriptions of types of sources to help you determine the quality of your sources. To some extent, the type of source provides clues about its overall depth and reliability. Textbooks, hard news articles, and websites approach a subject from different angles as well. What biases or agendas affect the contentĪ journal article written for an academic audience for the purpose of expanding scholarship in a given field will take an approach quite different from a magazine feature written to inform a general audience.How carefully writers research and document facts.How thoroughly writers cover a given topic.Sources you encounter will be written for distinct purposes and with particular audiences in mind, which may account for differences such as the following: To evaluate your research sources, you will use critical thinking skills consciously and deliberately. Sometimes, however, a source’s reliability-or lack of it-is not so obvious. Common sense will help you identify obviously questionable sources, such as tabloids that feature tales of alien abductions, or personal websites with glaring typos. Sources can vary greatly in terms of how carefully they are researched, written, edited, and reviewed for accuracy. You can always come back to it later if you need to.Īll information sources are not created equal. If a book or article is not especially relevant, put it aside. The following tips explain how to skim to get a quick sense of what topics are covered. Read quickly with your research questions and subtopics in mind. To weed through your collection of books and articles, skim their contents. Do not be afraid to ask your instructor, tutors, and librarians for suggestions if you find that many of your most relevant sources are not especially reliable, or that your most reliable sources are not relevant. Many non-functioning links are a sign that a website is not regularly updated. When using websites for research, look on the webpage to see when the site was last updated. On the other hand, a research paper on elementary education practices might refer to studies published decades ago by influential child psychologists. An article published in 2002 about this topic will not provide current information. For instance, online social networking sites have evolved rapidly over the past few years. Depending on your topic, sources may become outdated relatively soon after publication, or they may remain useful for years. You may benefit from seeking out sources that are current, or up to date. Reading and taking notes takes time and energy, so you will want to focus on the most relevant sources. ![]() Now is a good time to get a little ruthless. It is easy for writers to get so caught up in checking out books and printing out articles that they forget to ask themselves how they will use these resources in their research. Determining Whether a Source Is ReliableĪt this point in your research process, you may have identified dozens of potential sources. ![]()
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