How do I Evaluate Resources?

You've found some resources for your assignment, but are they appropriate for your research? Not all information is sound, valid information. You should always evaluate any information source you use. Evaluation means that you need to look carefully at your sources to determine whether they are reliable and appropriate for your information needs.

Evaluating Articles
Six Key Criteria for Evaluating Websites
- Authority
- Currency
- Accuracy
- Scope
- Objectivity
- Documentation
Primary Sources and Secondary Sources
- Sources in the Sciences
- Sources in the Humanities

Also see our Guide on Evaluating Information (pdf).

evaluating articles

scholarly journals, trade journals, and Popular magazines

For many research assignments, instructors will specify the types of sources that you are required to use. Therefore, it is important to understand the differences between these types of publications.

Use the following criteria to evaluate the types of articles that you are using for your research. If you are still uncertain about your sources after reading this guide, please check with a librarian or check with your instructor for additional assistance.

Criteria	Scholarly Journal	Trade Journal	Popular Magazine
Who is the intended audience?	Scholars, experts and others knowledgeable about the subject	Professionals working in a specific business, industry, or organization	A general audience without special knowledge of the topic
Who wrote it?	An acknowledged expert, such as a professor, scientist, or prominent researcher	Usually a professional in a specific field or industry. Sometimes a journalist with experience in the subject	A journalist, professional writer or layperson without significant academic or professional credentials in the field
What is the content of the publication?	Research reports, comprehensive and detailed treatments of a specific area of study, critical reviews	Current events, trends, and products that relate to a specific field or industry. Valuable information for professionals working in a field or industry	General interest items, “hot” topics, opinions, current events, introductory or overview information
How is it written?	Using specialized terminology or professional jargon that only experts and scholars will fully understand	Using terminology or jargon of the field. Not as technical as a scholarly journal	In everyday language that the average person understands
How is it edited?	By an “editorial board” comprised of scholars in the subject who review the articles other scholars have submitted for publication, giving rise to other term for scholarly journals: PEER-REVIEWED	By a professional editor who may be an expert in the field. Not peer reviewed.	By a professional editor
What does it look like?	Text, footnotes, bibliographies or references lists, charts, graphs, and abstracts. Has very little to no advertising	Often glossy with colorful images. Has advertisements that are targeted to professional in the field	Often glossy with colorful images and with lots of advertising
Where can you get it?	In academic libraries or by subscription	In some public or academic libraries. By subscription	On newsstands and in book stores everywhere
Does it have a bibliography or does it include references?	Required. Facts and quotes in the article are verifiable	Occasionally provides references, but they are not required	Little information about the source material is provided
How are the pages numbered?	Page numbers are usually consecutive through an entire volume	Each issue begins with page 1	Each issue begins with page 1
Examples	Journal of Knowledge Management Astronomy & Astrophysics Psychology in the Schools	Aviation Week & Space Technology American Educator Lab Manager	Time Barrons Sports Illustrated

Criteria

Scholarly Journal

Trade Journal

Popular Magazine

Who is the intended audience?

Scholars, experts and others knowledgeable about the subject

Professionals working in a specific business, industry, or organization

A general audience without special knowledge of the topic

Who wrote it?

An acknowledged expert, such as a professor, scientist, or prominent researcher

Usually a professional in a specific field or industry. Sometimes a journalist with experience in the subject

A journalist, professional writer or layperson without significant academic or professional credentials in the field

What is the content of the publication?

Research reports, comprehensive and detailed treatments of a specific area of study, critical reviews

Current events, trends, and products that relate to a specific field or industry. Valuable information for professionals working in a field or industry

General interest items, “hot” topics, opinions, current events, introductory or overview information

How is it written?

Using specialized terminology or professional jargon that only experts and scholars will fully understand

Using terminology or jargon of the field. Not as technical as a scholarly journal

In everyday language that the average person understands

How is it edited?

By an “editorial board” comprised of scholars in the subject who review the articles other scholars have submitted for publication, giving rise to other term for scholarly journals: PEER-REVIEWED

By a professional editor who may be an expert in the field. Not peer reviewed.

By a professional editor

What does it look like?

Text, footnotes, bibliographies or references lists, charts, graphs, and abstracts. Has very little to no advertising

Often glossy with colorful images. Has advertisements that are targeted to professional in the field

Often glossy with colorful images and with lots of advertising

Where can you get it?

In academic libraries or by subscription

In some public or academic libraries. By subscription

On newsstands and in book stores everywhere

Does it have a bibliography or does it include references?

Required. Facts and quotes in the article are verifiable

Occasionally provides references, but they are not required

Little information about the source material is provided

How are the pages numbered?

Page numbers are usually consecutive through an entire volume

Each issue begins with page 1

Examples

Journal of Knowledge Management

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Psychology in the Schools

Aviation Week & Space Technology

American Educator

Lab Manager

Time

Barrons

Sports Illustrated

Peer-reviewed

“Peer-reviewed” refers to the process of having experts in a particular field review and evaluate articles before they are printed in a journal. This process of evaluation helps insure that articles printed in these publications are of the highest quality.

NOTE: Sometimes the term “refereed” is used instead of “peer-reviewed”.

Evaluating online articles

Evaluating articles that you have located in a database or on a publisher’s website can be a little more challenging. Online article do not always provide you with the physical characteristics (advertisements, graphs, illustrations) that you might use to evaluate print articles.

Databases that search a variety of publications - magazines, scholarly journal, trade journals - will often provide you with a tab, link, or check box that allows you to limit your search results strictly to peer-reviewed/scholarly journals.

Six KEY criteria for evaluating WEBsITES

AUTHORITY

Who is responsible for the content?
What are the author's qualifications?
Can you identify a parent organization or sponsor?
What are the qualifications of the parent organization or sponsor?

Always look for site-hosting information or parent organization. It doesn't take long to figure out the true nature of the insulting Martin Luther King, Jr.: A True Historical Examination. Any doubts are quickly dispelled after clicking on the group that sponsors the website, Stormfront.

A counterfeit website pretending to be hosted by the World Trade Organization: http://www.gatt.org/. The official WTO site is http://www.wto.org/.

See the differences among http://www.whitehouse.gov/, http://www.whitehouse.org/, http://www.whitehouse.com/, and http://www.whitehouse.net/.

CURRENCY

When was the page written?
When was the page published?
Was the page recently revised?

The first two sections of Journalism Resources: Online Searching and Information Gathering contain mostly dead links, and the information sources are out of date.

ACCURACY

Is the information recent where appropriate?
Is the information detailed and comprehensive?
Are sources listed for the presented information?
Are there links to reputable outside sources?
Are there grammatical errors in the content?

This site is especially interesting. Note the spelling for "Burmese" Mountain Dog: http://descy.50megs.com/akcj3/bmd.html

A legitimate site for a Bernese Mountain Dog: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bernesemountain.htm

The Internet has many articles urging consumers to beware of radioactive cat litter. For example, see this page from Ezine Articles. An excellent site for a quick refutation of questionable stories and urban legends is Snopes.com. A search under radioactive cat litter brings up "Glow, Cat, Glow!

The purported official home page of Mankato, Minnesota, contains several photographs of scenic beaches. Readers of the site are urged to "come enjoy our winters" as "the winter temperature in many Mankato neighborhoods has never dropped below a balmy 70 degrees."

Read about investing in McWhortle Enterprises, Inc, "an established and well-known manufacturer of biological defense mechanisms."

Scope

Is it an overview or is it specific information?
Is it too specific for your information needs?
Is it too general for your information needs? Do you need more detail?
Is there an intended audience?

Students looking for information on the Battle of Gettysburg can certainly profit from The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 (note that a paragraph is included outlining the scope of the website). But if they need a more panoramic page that discusses the entire Civil War, they can click on a site such as The American Civil War Homepage.

Be cautious about using sites that are targeted for a specific purpose and/or audience. This site has very little scientific information, but may provide emotional support if you are a lip balm addict: http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/

Objectivity

How much bias is evident in the content?
Does the content seem fair, balanced and reasonable?
Are there any conflicts of interest?
Are they trying to sell you something?

Note the philosophy and sponsoring organization of BeefNutrition.org and decide if there is any bias, lack of objectivity, or conflicts of interest.

Some websites are blatantly biased and/or contain inaccurate, even malicious information. For example, see the home page of the Institute for Historical Review. As noted on the page, Mark Weber is a director of the IHR. You can obtain valuable information that helps you evaluate persons' websites and organizations by looking them up in Google or some other search engine. Mark Weber: The Professional Denier is from the Anti-Defamation League's "Holocaust Denial: An Online Guide to Exposing and Combating Anti-Semitic Propaganda."

DOCUMENTATION

Are there citations?
If it is a web site, does it link to other reputable sites?
If it is a web site, who links to the site that you are evaluating?
Are there are graphs, tables, or illustrations to support the text?
Is the source of the information given?

An example of a webpage with questionable sources: http://www.melatonin.com/

An example of a website with excellent documentation is this critical essay on author William Faulkner, part of the University of Mississippi's Mississippi Writers Page.

primary SOURCES and secondary sources

Primary sources are original materials about a subject, experiment, time period or event. These sources are the evidence left behind by researchers, participants, and witnesses. Primary sources include:

reports of original research by those involved in the research
letters, emails, autobiographies, diaries, and interviews
objects, artifacts, and photographs
creative works such as music, art, and literature

Secondary sources are evaluations and interpretations of primary sources. These sources are not evidence, but discussions of evidence. Secondary sources include:

summaries or reviews of other people's research
biographies
analysis of past events
critical reviews of literary or artistic works

For a more detailed explanation, please see Sources in the Sciences and Sources in the Humanities.

SOURCES in the sciences:

Primary research in the sciences are original sources of information. Most primary articles appear in scholarly journals that are peer-reviewed. However, peer-reviewed publications also contain many secondary sources as well.

Characteristics of primary articles in the sciences:

The article will give materials and methods for the research that was conducted. This includes enough detail so the experiment can be repeated.
The article will detail the results of any experiments or research that the author has personally performed.
The article will give complete references that support the author's claims.
The article will have gone through the peer-review process.

Characteristics of secondary sources in the sciences:

The article may mention information about the subjects, for example the number of participants in the study, their gender or race, but the article doesn't give the information needed to repeat the experiment. There is little information about the experimental conditions.
The article reviews, summarizes or describes research and/or experimental results by another researcher. The article will lack the statistical analysis or detailed results of the experiment.
Secondary sources usually do list complete references. Use this information to track down the original research!
Many secondary sources will appear in a "peer-reviewed publication." That doesn't mean that every article or information piece is primary research. Peer-reviewed publications also contain news information, secondary sources and other non-primary sources of information.

Examples of primary sources in the sciences:

Examples include but are not limited to: Laboratory Notebooks, Letters Journals, Technical Reports, Clinical Trials, Research Studies, Patents, Conference Papers and Proceedings, Dissertations and Theses, Scientific Data, Journal Articles. Books can also be considered primary research if they follow the criteria listed above.

SOURCES in the Humanities:

Characteristics of primary articles in the humanities:

The document was created during the time period being studied or at a later date by a participant in or a witness to the events being studied.
These types of sources reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.
Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during a specific event or time period.

Characteristics of secondary sources in the humanities:

The document interprets, explains, summarizes or analyzes an event or phenomenon.
The document was not created by a witness or a participant of the occurring event.
These sources reflect the opinion of the author who has gathered information from other primary and secondary sources.

Examples of primary sources in the humanities:

Examples include but are not limited to: Books, Newspaper Articles, Journal Articles, Audio Recordings, and Video Recordings from the time period or event you are studying, Memoirs, Letters, Speeches, Interviews, Photographs, Diaries, Autobiographies, Manuscripts, Government Documents.

See Also: