COMM 111 Curammeng: Evaluate Sources

When selecting sources for your research, it's important to know what type of source you're looking at. The Know Your Sources infographic will help give you an idea of who created and what went into the creation of the source you're looking at.

How do you know if a source is right for your research? Below are some questions you can ask about your sources. While you're not always expected to use sources by expert authors in publications without any bias, it's still good to be aware of these things when considering how well you trust their conclusions.

1. Is this article relevant? What is the author investigating and how does that relate to what you're researching?
2. Who is the author and what are their qualifications? Are their qualifications good enough for the weight you are placing on their conclusions? 
3. Who published this? What is their purpose? To inform? To promote a particular viewpoint? To sell something?
4. Have other people reviewed the information provided to make sure it's accurate? If it's in a newspaper, magazine, or journal, it will have been reviewed at least by an editor and possibly by other experts on the topic. 
5. Can you tell where the author got their information from? Their own experience? Interviewing people? A research experiment? Other experts? Do they provide references or some clue about their own sources?
6. Is the information current enough for the topic you're researching? For example, something on global warming from 1980 will be pretty out-of-date today.

There are many different types of articles. The chart below can help you figure out which type(s) you're looking for or identify an article you've already found:

	News articles provide the most current information. Certain newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, are also known for thoughtful, in-depth analysis of important topics and events.
	Popular magazine articles can help you generate ideas about issues, controversies, or unanswered questions about a topic, which you might want to explore further. They sometimes refer to studies or scholarly work that you can track down for more information.
	Trade publications are written by and for professionals within an industry. These are an excellent source of very specific information from inside the field.
	Scholarly journal articles go through a process of peer review before they are published. They are written by experts in the field (the people with letters after their name!) and their purpose is to advance the ongoing body of work within the discipline. These articles might present original research data and findings, or take a position on a key question within the field. They can be difficult to read, because their intended audience is other experts and academics, but they are at the top of the line when it comes to authoritative information.

This video will provide you with three questions to ask of any source to make sure it is a good fit for your research assignment. 

On the web, it can be difficult to tell what type of source you’re looking at and whether or not it’s something that would provide quality evidence for your assignment. This video will help you look more critically at your own search results.