Skip to Main Content
Campus Library Logo

English 102 - Serianni: How do I tell if this is a good source?

This guide will help you find, access and evaluate the resources you'll need for your English 102 class.

How do I tell if this is a useful source for my research?

The following are some helpful guidelines for recognizing what type of source (scholarly, popular, political, etc.) you are reading and for evaluating its relevance and usefulness to your topic and your research process in general. Rather than used as a checklist, these seven points are considerations to make and questions to ask when evaluating a source or piece of information.

1. Authorship - who is the creator?
2. Publication Date - when was this information first made available?
3. Publishing Format - in what form is this information accessed?
4. Point of View or Bias - what background and opinions inform the author's arguments?
5. References to Other Sources - who does the author cite to support their arguments?
6. Relevance to Topic and Assignment - is this information relevant/related to your research task/need?
7. Organization and Appearance - what do the visual cues of the source tell you? 

Image created by Freepik at FlatIcon.com

1.  Authorship

  • Who wrote the information? The author's authority is dependent upon information presented and format used. 
  • What are his or her credentials and professional affiliation? As noted above, authority is not always tied to credentials and degrees.
  • 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?

2.  Publication Date

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

3.  Publishing Format

Periodical articles

  • Is the article from a mass media/popular magazine, a substantive news source, or a scholarly journal?
  • Can you tell who the intended audience of the periodical is (general readers, experts, practitioners, etc.)?
  • Is the purpose of the periodical to inform, educate, persuade, entertain, sell, etc.?
  • Does it have a particular editorial perspective?

Books

  • Is the book published by an academic press or a commercial publisher? Is it self-published?
  • If a commercial publisher, do they publish primarily scholarly or popular books?

Websites

  • To what domain does the site belong (edu, gov, org, com, net, etc.), and is this information important for your assessment of a site?
  • Is the name of the individual or organization responsible for the overall site provided?  Is there a link to information about their mission or purpose?
  • In general, popular sources do not require extensive prior knowledge of a topic. Scholarly sources assume a greater level of sophistication and knowledge on the part of the reader.

4.  Point of View or Bias 

  • Is the information provided as fact or opinion?
  • Is there a missing point of view from a particular group or identity?
  • What kind of evidence is provided?
  • Is the information consistent with information from other sources?

*For more information about bias specific to news/media, the following is a useful resource: How to Detect Bias in the News from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)

5. 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.)?

6.  Relevance to Topic or Assignment

  • Is the language and approach suitable to your level of expertise on the subject?
  • What are your biases or assumptions on this subject and your expectations for the source?
  • Does the source provide information that supports or challenges your point of view?  Does it verify information from other sources you're using?

7.  Organization and Appearance

  • Does the individual source or overall work include:
    • Advertisements
    • Table of contents and/or index
    • Graphics - photographs, charts, tables, images

Use the SIFT method to evaluate web sources

SIFT acronym, Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace

The SIFT method is an evaluation strategy developed by digital literacy expert, Mike Caulfield, to help determine whether online content can be trusted for credible or reliable sources of information. All SIFT information on this page is adapted from his materials with a CC BY 4.0 license.

Determining if resources are credible is challenging. Use the SIFT method to help you analyze information, especially news or other online media.

1.  Stop

Before you read or share an article or video, STOP!​
Be aware of your emotional response to the headline or information in the article. Headlines are often meant to get clicks, and will do so by causing the reader to have a strong emotional response.

Before sharing, consider:

  • What you already know about the topic. ​
  • What you know about the source. Do you know it's reputation?


2.  Investigate the Source

The next step before sharing is to Investigate the Source.
Take a moment to look up the author and source publishing the information.

  • What can you find about the author/website creators? ​
  • What is their mission? Do they have vested interests? ​Would their assessment be biased?
  • Do they have authority in the area?​

Go beyond the 'About Us' section on the organization's website and see what other, trusted sources say about the source.​ You can use Google or Wikipedia to investigate the source.


3.  Find Better Coverage

The next step is to Find Better Coverage or other sources that may or may not support the original claim.
Again, use lateral reading to see if you can find other sources corroborating the same information or disputing it.​

  • What coverage is available on the topic? 
  • Keep track of trusted news sources.

Many times, fact checkers have already looked into the claims. These fact-checkers are often nonpartisan, nonprofit websites that try to increase public knowledge and understanding by fact checking claims to see if they are based on fact or if they are biased/not supported by evidence.


4.  Trace Claims, Quotes & Media to Their Original Context

The final step is to Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to their Original Context.
When an article references a quote from an expert, or results of a research study, it is good practice to attempt to locate the original source of the information.​ Click through the links to follow the claims to the original source of information. Open up the original reporting sources listed in a bibliography if present

  • Was the claim, quote, or media fairly represented?
  • Does the extracted information support the original claims in the research? ​
  • Is information being cherry-picked to support an agenda or a bias?​
  • Is information being taken out of context?​

Remember, headlines, blog posts, or tweets may sensationalize facts to get more attention or clicks. ​Re-reporting may omit, misinterpret, or select certain facts to support biased claims. If the claim is taken from a source who took it from another source, important facts and contextual information can be left out. Make sure to read the claims in the original context in which they were presented.

When in doubt, contact an expert – like a librarian!​.