Evaluating Sources: A Guide for the Online Generation

Written by Neida Mbuia João

One of the most daunting tasks when writing your first big academic paper is finding appropriate resources to support your claims. While most of us are probably familiar with the concept of “credible sources,” very few of us were taught in high school what it actually takes to evaluate sources effectively. This guide aims to be a one-stop shop to help you learn how to identify credible sources and where to find them. 

Misconceptions About Finding Sources

Here are several very common misconceptions about reliable sources:

1. Anything on Google Scholar is a worthwhile resource. Google Scholar can be an excellent starting point for your research. For example, you can check the bibliography of an incomplete book or journal abstract to find credible sources to use in your paper. However, Google Scholar can also be a minefield, with plenty of sources your professor would reject as unacceptable. Google Scholar often returns partial sections of physical or online books that could be fully available through your university library. Sometimes you’ll find something listed as a “journal article” when it’s really just an abstract. Furthermore, some of the books you might find on Google Scholar that seem like perfect matches for your research topic could be trade press texts rather than peer-reviewed university print ones (more on that important distinction below). Therefore, be sure to thoroughly vet sources found on Google Scholar and utilize your university library to access complete copies of academic texts (see the next section for information about university libraries).

2. Newspapers are a great scholarly source. If you were like me when I was a kid, you likely assumed newspapers were the pinnacle of “scholarly.” “My dad reads the Washington Post everyday,” I’d think to myself. “How could it not work as a scholarly source?!” To answer this question, I’ll refer you to Central Queensland University of Australia: “Scholarly sources disseminate research and academic discussion amongst professionals in a field” while non-scholarly sources … don’t. Think of it this way: a scholarly source is something your professor might have written, had reviewed by other professionals in their field, and then published in a journal. Newspapers can be credible sources to receive information from, but they don’t meet the aforementioned standards necessary to be considered scholarly. They’re not completely useless though: newspaper articles can be used as primary sources in humanities papers. More on that below.

3. Evaluating sources is hard! Evaluating potential sources for a research paper can feel difficult, but it doesn’t have to be! That’s why this guide exists, to simplify the process for you.

General Rules of Thumb for Source Evaluation

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you compile your research for a paper:

1. Have you visited your university library yet? A lot of research takes place on the internet nowadays, which makes the process of finding and vetting sources easier for you. Most university libraries have a WorldCat (for example, here’s UCLA’s WorldCat) that will enable you to search all of the collections you have access to through your university. This online catalog enables you to narrow your search criteria, which can seriously simplify your search for quality sources. For example, you can narrow your search terms to include “peer-reviewed sources only,” physical books, or sources that are only available online, depending on your needs. You can also filter your search based on publication dates to ensure your sources are up to date and abide by disciplinary conventions. For example, you might limit your search to the last 5 years to find the most recent secondary sources on your topic, or you could limit your search to sources from before the 2000s if you are doing primary research. I’d say it’s an overall much better system than flipping through physical card catalogs and having to dust off rarely used tomes from the back of the library! 

2. Are your sources scholarly? Most, if not all, academic writing you do will require the use of scholarly sources. But what is a “scholarly” source? A scholarly source is a piece of writing produced by experts in a field of research and published by a university press or a peer-reviewed journal. The peer review process is what most distinguishes scholarly sources from non-scholarly works. A peer-reviewed source has been vigorously reviewed by other experts in the same field as the writer and accepted as up to date, accurate, and making a significant contribution to the field. While most academic writing assignments will require the use of scholarly sources, you should always double check with your professors. Afraid of asking for help? Don’t worry! We have a resource that gives you the tools to make chats with your professors much less daunting. Check it out here!

3. Do the author(s) have appropriate credentials? It’s helpful to do a little research about the authors of your sources before you include them in your research paper. If an author has a long history in their field and is well respected, that can help bolster your credibility as you construct your argument. You also want to avoid authors who might have biases in their background. For example, depending on the purpose of your paper, you might want to think twice about using a research paper disproving climate change by an academic employed at an oil company. Since oil companies produce fossil fuels, a major contributor to climate change, there’s a possibility that this paper might be biased due to the author’s involvement in the oil industry, rather than approaching the topic of climate change objectively. 

4. Is the source relevant to your topic of research? Since the internet has made it possible to access almost any information in the world, it can be overwhelming to face the volume of potential sources at your fingertips. You might come across a lot of information that is related to your topic of research without it being relevant to it. So, what’s the difference between a related source and a relevant source? A related source is one that has a general connection to your topic of research. A relevant source is one that actually helps you build your argument or support your conclusions.Here’s an example to illustrate the difference: Say you’re writing a paper on feminism in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (stay with me here). You find an article that argues that the play is proto-feminist, a book that argues it’s portrayal of gender roles is anti-feminist, and a piece about the use of fate as a plot device in the play. The first two works are relevant to your essay, i.e. they would help you make an argument about how feminism manifests in Romeo and Juliet. The third work is simply related: it’s about Romeo and Juliet but it doesn’t have a direct link to the topic of your essay. It could have useful information in it, but it might be more work (and you may end up problematically stretching things) to make the idea of “fate” connect to an argument about the play’s feminist themes. Before including a source in your “Works Cited,” ask yourself if it can reasonably be used to support the arguments you’re making or if it’s just on a related topic.

5. Are your sources up to date, i.e. published and peer reviewed within the last 15 years? Generally speaking, it’s good to include sources that are as up to date as possible. This will ensure that your research is informed by the most recent discussion on your topic of choice, rather than outdated theories that have since been disproven. You don’t want to write a paper on the validity of the Stanford Prison Experiment based on an article from 1975, when more recent research has proven that the methodology of that experiment was flawed. Several exceptions can apply to this rule. Depending on your field of research or paper topic, 15 years could also be dated—you might be better off working with sources that have been published in the last 5 or 10 years. Don’t be afraid to talk with your professor about using a source older than 15 years if you feel that it would be appropriate for a project.

How to distinguish Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources 

Primary, secondary, and tertiary sources exist no matter the discipline. These distinctions are important when thinking about what kind of sources you need to support your research.

• Primary sources are produced “as close to the original event or phenomenon as it is possible to be”. This could be a series of newspaper articles that covered an event as it unfolded or a novel about which you are constructing an argument.

• Secondary sources are usually based on research about primary sources. This is where your scholarly journal articles come in. 

• Tertiary sources summarize primary sources and/or research that can be found in secondary sources. Think of a textbook or encyclopedia. Below are examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in each discipline, and how you might use them to support your writing.

Primary sources

• Humanities: A novel about which you are writing an essay.

• Social Sciences: A research article detailing a psychological experiment and summarizing its findings.

• Natural Sciences: An article detailing a chemistry experiment and summarizing its findings.

Secondary sources

• Humanities: A research paper making an argument about the novel on which you are writing an essay.

• Social Sciences: A book analyzing the results of the psychological experiment and producing conclusions about it by incorporating other evidence.

• Natural Sciences: An article in a scholarly journal synthesizing the results of the original chemistry experiment.

Tertiary Sources

• Humanities: The bibliography of a Wikipedia article on the novel about which you are writing.

• Social Sciences: An annotated bibliography providing citations on the topic of the psychological study.

• Natural Sciences: A chemistry textbook that cites the original experiment and teaches students how to recreate it.

Evaluating Different Types of Sources

Thus far, we’ve explored a lot of the more general rules of thumb you can use to evaluate sources. However, there is some nuance that comes into play when evaluating sources outside of the print medium. Summarized below are the rules to follow if you’re citing mainly printed material, as well as some considerations for non-print and online sources.

1. Print sources (journal articles, monographs, magazines, etc.)

   • As mentioned above, a print source is generally considered scholarly if it has been published by a university press or a peer-reviewed journal. Other factors often apply, but the above is usually the easiest way to make sure your sources are scholarly.

   • Try to rely on books from university presses (ex. University of North Carolina Press) rather than trade publishers (ex. Hachette, Penguin, Harper Collins). However, regardless of where your sources originate, be sure to evaluate them based on the strength of their evidence, being sure to note any biases you observe. 

2. Non-print sources (works of art, videos, audio interviews, etc.)

   • Works of art, videos, interviews, can serve as primary sources but it’s important to support conclusions drawn from them with secondary scholarly sources.

3. Online sources (websites, blogs, online articles, etc.)

   • Depending on the research topic, online sources such as tweets, blogs, Facebook pages, Medium articles, etc. can be used as primary sources. (In order to include these, however, it will be important to conduct a content analysis to ensure that they are truly relevant and noteworthy to your research.) 

   • Websites with .edu domains are more likely to have reputable information but use discernment (meaning don’t just assume .edu = good to go). If what you’re reading is in a tone of voice that feels more casual than formal or is a plaintext page rather than a pdf of a written document, your professor could challenge the appropriateness of this source. Therefore, be cautious when using online sources by checking with your professor to ensure any online sources you are planning to use align with their standards. 

Helpful Tips and Summary

If you take anything away from this piece, I hope it is the importance of using discernment when evaluating evidence that might be used in a paper. Discernment skills are arguably some of the most important things you can learn in college. If something feels poorly researched, amateurishly written, if anything seems off about it, don’t use it. 

This article has hopefully helped clarify some of the initial challenges of conducting academic research at the college level. While academic research is very often contingent on your field of research, topic of study, and the individual desires of your professor, there are some central takeaways you can generally rely on:

• Focus on finding scholarly sources to support your research. This can include, but is not limited to, journal articles and university-press-printed books. 

• Wiki sites and blogs can be excellent starting points for finding sources (scroll down to the bibliography section!), but avoid citing Wiki sites and blogs as sources themselves.

• Your school’s library is your best resource when beginning research: start there! The online catalog has amazing tools to help you focus your searches. There are also likely reference librarians at your university who can help guide you through this process if you’re still feeling overwhelmed or confused. It’s their job to make sure you find the resources you need, so don’t be afraid to ask for help!

• When in doubt about whether a source is applicable, talk to a librarian or your professor. 

List of sources referenced:

• https://libguides.umgc.edu/credibility

• https://library.gordon.edu/tgc/know-your-sources

• Scholarly/Non-Scholarly Sources - Evaluating Books, Journal Articles and Websites - Library Guides at CQUniversity

• 1810.01765.pdf (arxiv.org)

• https://lib.calpoly.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Evaluating-Credibility-Fall-2017.pdf

• Finding Credible Information: A Challenge to Students Writing Academic Essays by Maria Mattus, Linköping University, Sweden

• Using Sources Effectively and Responsibly | Harvard Extension School

• What is a Scholarly Source? (snhu.edu)

• Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources | Subject and Course Guides (uncw.edu)

Special thanks to Neida Mbuia João for writing this post and contributing to other College Writing Center resources

Neida Mbuia João (she/they) is a freelance writer and content creator. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland College Park, as well as a certificate in creative writing. As operations assistant for College Essay Guy’s essay review platforms, they have helped spearhead administrative and hiring processes to get the ERPs up and running. She has been in charge of administrative and operational schema at a local chapter of the AFSCME labor union. This work supports their diverse creative output, which includes YouTube videos, blog posts, short stories, essays, screenplays, and myriad other forms. She spends most of her spare time with the loves of her life: her 9-year-old rescued hound dog Rosie, and her dvr'd reruns of Law & Order and it’s spin-offs. 

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