Tutorial Home Page

Choosing a topic
Finding Books
 Finding Articles
 Finding Web Sites
 Evaluating Sources
 Citing Sources

Self Quiz

Once you've begun to find sources for your research, it's time to begin deciding which ones are best. The following are five criteria researchers should use to decide which sources to use. Ask yourself these questions to help you make your decision:

• Accuracy
  • Typographical or spelling errors?
  • Statistical data clearly labeled?
  • Agreement with other sources for the same information?
  • Sources of information properly cited?
• Authority
  • Who produced the information - is it a professional or expert in the field?
  • Author/sponsor’s name clearly given with qualifications?
  • Contact information given for author/sponsor?
• Coverage
  • What kind of information is given - how relevant is it to your topic?
  • What is the scope of the coverage - is it an overview or does it cover a topic in-depth? Is it narrowly-focused or does it cover a broad range of topics or subtopics?
  • If it's a Web site, is it complete or under construction?
  • Is there a print equivalent to Web site?
  • Web site valuable as compared to other information sources?
• Currency
  • How recently was the item published?
  • Dates clearly indicated or easy to find?
  • For the Web, is there a date that the page was first created?
  • For the Web, is there a date when the page was last revised?
• Point of View
  • Information intended as a public service or is it an advertisement?
  • Is the information intended to sway public opinion or merely to inform?
  • For web pages, if advertising is present, is it separate from informational content?
  • Author/sponsor biased (limited point-of-view)?