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Beyond Just Finding

Knowing how to find resources using a library catalog, library database, or using the web is not enough when completing and assignment that requires research. You must also learn how to evaluate the articles you find for quality and relevance.

There are 4 main criteria to evaluating a resource:

Authority - Is the source and its author trustworthy and credible?
Currency - Is the source current and up to date?
Objectivity - Is the source and its author unbiased and free of political or personal motive?
Relevance - How does this article support your thesis?

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Evaluate Before Use

	BOOK	MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER	SCHOLARLY JOURNAL	WEBSITE
Authority – Is the source and its author trustworthy and credible?	Books go through a lengthy editing process, including fact checking	Newspapers and Magazines require authors to be experienced writers, usually specialized in a subject. Every article is edited and fact checked.	Scholarly Journal articles go through a lengthy editing process. Expertise and credentials are required and bias is very rare.	No editing process except what specific websites decide for themselves. Often it is difficult to find out who wrote the content on a website.
Currency – Is the source current or outdated?	When searching in a catalog, the year is clearly displayed. 5-10 years or newer is a safe range.	Newspapers and Magazines are published daily, weekly, or monthly. Whether you search in a database or online for articles, be sure to take note of the date. 5-10 years or newer is a safe range.	When searching in a database, you can narrow your search to only the most current articles. 5-10 years or newer is a safe range.	Web content can be created and rarely or never updated. Be sure to look for how long ago the most recent update was.
Objectivity – Is the source unbiased and clear of political or personal motive?	Books can be biased and authors can have motive behind writing.	Newspapers and magazines can have institutional biases (such as a tradition of presenting right leaning news more prominently). They can also contain opinion.	Bias is rare in scholarly journals.	Websites can be biased and anyone can add content to the web.
Relevance	Determine a summary and purpose of the source. How will you use this source in your paper?