Evaluating Sources

EVALUATING SOURCES

It's not enough just to FIND SOURCES; you need to ask both specific as well as general questions to determine whether your source answers your RESEARCH QUESTION. There are four questions to ask when evaluating sources:

  1. How Well does the Source answer the Research Question?
  2. Is the Information Provided by an Expert?
  3. Is the Source Valid?
  4. Is there a Variety of Sources?

HOW WELL DOES THE SOURCE ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTION?

The way you decide if the source has appropriate information for you is by consulting the table of contents and indexes in a book; in an article read the captions under pictures and diagrams, and then read the first sentence of every paragraph.

For example, if you've asked how an emigrant group has changed the culture of your particular community, a general magazine article on recent emigrants from Europe may not answer that question directly.

IS THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY AN EXPERT?

You want to consider your sources' credentials. A person who has considerable experience and training in an area is an expert. That expert's informed opinion can greatly substantiate your point of view.

For instance, if your RESEARCH QUESTION asks about the safest way to dispose of medical waste, your uncle, who works in hospital maintenance and has an opinion on everything, may tell you stories about what he's seen, but he should not be regarded as an expert in the field of medical waste disposal. As a source, his usefulness is limited.

IS THE SOURCE VALID?

  1. Is the information presented objectively from an unbiased viewpoint? Do you, for example, accept a claim from the National Association of Tobacco Growers that nicotine is not an addictive drug?

  2. Do the authors let you know their sources of information? Be careful of a newspaper article that attributes a quote to "an informed source" without telling the reader who that source is.

  3. Do the authors let you know their research methods as well as results? You may want to think twice about using a source that claims that 9 out of 10 doctors recommend surgery for dimples when you don't know how many or what kind of doctors they surveyed.

  4. Is the research current if currency is important? If you're writing a paper on nuclear waste disposal, a report written in 1952 is not valid.

You need to ask all of these questions to make sure that your sources are good ones to use.

IS THERE A VARIETY OF SOURCES?

Another thing to keep in mind is that you want to collect a variety of perspectives and opinions on your topic. Therefore you won't want to rely too heavily on one author, or look for material on just one aspect of your topic.

For example, if you are comparing the leadership styles of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, you don't want to use five books by Bruce Catton. Neither do you want to use six sources on Lee and only two on Grant.

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