Evaluating the sources that you find

Evaluating the sources you find is a crucial step in the process of library research. You will need to determine whether or not a particular resource fits the requirements of your assignment. How current is the information? Is it scholarly? Is this information from a reputable source? Who is responsible for producing the work that you hope to use in your research? Is that person a subject specialist? How objective is the information? How accurate or truthful? How authoritative? These sorts of questions help to establish a source's credibility, reliability, and usefulness.

Critically analyzing information sources lists some of the critical questions you should ask when you consider the appropriateness of a particular book, article, media resource, or Web site for your research.

Distinguishing scholarly from popular sources shows how to evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.

It is particularly important to analyze and evaluate information that you acquire from Internet sources. Because the Web is open to anyone who wants to create a page, there is little or no editorial screening or scholarly filtering of information, as we often have with books or periodical articles. It will be up to you to determine whether a web site is of value.

Evaluating Web sites lists suggestions for critiquing web resources.