ENGL 102: Chen-Johnson, M. (Spring 2025): Evaluating sources

Questions to Ask When Evaluating

The main questions to ask yourself are:

• Who wrote this information? 
• How do I know they are qualified to be writing about this subject in the way they are writing about it?
• When did they create this information? 
• Who is sponsoring this information (hosting or paying the author for it)?
• Most importantly -- will my audience think I have made a good choice by including this information in my own work?

Understanding Authors and Authority

Authors can be individual people, or corporate bodies or organizations.

Find the Author's Name

Are his/her credentials listed? If not, do a Google search for that author's name. If the author is an influential writer/researcher on the topic, you will find evidence of this. Look for college and university affiliations. If you find that the author writes about many different unrelated topics, it is likely that s/he is not an expert on the topic, but is probably a journalist.

Look at the Words the Author Chooses to Use

Are the words emotionally charged? Judgmental? Rude or sarcastic? These are not techniques used by people dedicated to providing reliable information.

Is the Author a Corporation/organization?

Go to that Website and look at the About link. Do they make it clear what their mission is? Is it clear through their About page, or through other evidence that they are politically, financially, or ideologically motivated? If so, the source may have strong biases that may corrupt their reliability, and their honesty.

Are All Lettered Experts (Dr., MA, PhD, etc.) Reliable? 

A 'lettered' expert has studied extensively within a discipline and researches and writes within a prescribed set of disciplinary values and ethics. Many 'lettered' people publish their work in peer-reviewed journals, which means that the articles they have written have been scrutinized by a panel of others in their field prior to acceptance (or rejection) for publication. So, the work of 'lettered' people may be considered reliable, however, 'lettered' people are only human after all and may make mistakes. 

General encyclopedias*, general dictionaries, wikis, and blogs may be used but do not count toward your minimum number of authoritative sources.  Use with caution since their authority is questionable.

Sources must be authoritative (librarians will help if you’re uncertain; “authoritative” does not mean infallible”).  Sample authoritative sources: TCC’s research databases, .gov and .edu (except posted student work) sites, sometimes .org sites (use caution), books, and interviews with experts in the field.

Online sources other than those from TCC’s research databases should be printed out and attached to the paper.  For long sources, you need print out only the section you used.  If you fail to do this and I can’t find the source, the source doesn’t count and your credibility suffers.

*Specialized encyclopedias CAN count toward your minimum number of authoritative sources. Use the Library's Gale Virtual Reference Library to find these sources.

Evaluating Sources

Not all resources are created equal! There are a number of criteria to consider when determining whether or not a source is reliable (able to be trusted) and appropriate for your academic work.

Authorship

• Who is the author?
• What makes the author an expert in the field he or she is writing about? What are his or her qualifications? Does he or she have education or work experience in the field? Has he or she published anything else about the subject? (HINT: Google the name of the author to find this information).
• If there isn't an author listed, is the information authored by a government, corporate, or non-profit agency?  Is the agency or organization recognized in the field in which you are studying, and is it suitable to address your topic?

Point of View or Bias

• Does the source promote one point of view or one agenda?
• Is the information provided as fact or opinion?
• If the information is found online, does the Web site have advertisements? If so, are the ads part of or separate from the rest of the site?

Currency

• Does your topic require current information?
• Does the source include a date of publication or a "last updated" date?

References to Other Sources

• Does the source include a bibliography or links to other web sites?
• What types of sources are cited (primary/secondary, popular/scholarly, current/historical, etc.)

Relevance to Topic and Assignment

• Is the information you found related to and useful for your topic and assignment?
• Is the source the appropriate type for your needs?  For example, do you need a book or a scholarly journal article? Do you need primary or secondary sources of information?
• Is the information too broad or too specific?

Image source:  "Evaluation" by NY is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

A Word on Currency

The importance of currency varies, depending on your needs as a researcher. The topic can remain the same, but your perspective -- and therefore your research needs -- might differ.

When You Might Need Historical Sources

For example, if you want to find out how newspapers reported on the Cambodian refugee crisis as it was happening in the 1980s, you would want to make sure that those articles are older, published in the 1980s.

When You Might Need More Current Sources

But, for example, if you want to find longitudinal research about the assimilation of Cambodian refugees into the United States (how are their children and grandchildren doing?), that article is probably going to be relatively recent (it takes a long time to do longitudinal studies!).