Choosing the best sources for a particular assignment or paper
Use the following criteria to help judge whether the materials you’ve
collected will be suitable for your assignment/paper.
It may be difficult in some cases to apply these criteria directly to
every publication.
Credibility of Author(s)
- Is information given about degrees, experience in the field?
- Is the author mentioned or cited in other sources you’ve examined?
Date of publication
- The topic determines how recent your sources need to be, e.g., a topic
from current events or in a rapidly changing field needs the most recent
sources available. Older material may be suitable for historical or
biographical topics.
- Books written within the last 5-10 years may be considered current;
periodicals should be within the last 2-3 years to be considered current.
- Other criteria being equal, the more current, the better.
Relevance of publication
- Does it relate directly to your topic?
- For books; skim title, preface, table of contents, index
- For periodical articles: look at subheadings, abstracts
Intended audience
- “Popular” publications are written for the general public
in easily understood language. Often they have no footnotes or bibliography.
They can be useful but may oversimplify.
- “Scholarly” publications are written for an academic audience,
usually by a specialist in the field. They may use technical terms and
specialized vocabulary. They usually have extensive footnotes and bibliographies.
- Depending on your topic, either or both of these types of publications
might be useful.
Content
- Documentation: are opinions and facts supported by reference to other
authorities or footnotes?
- If a controversial topic, are conflicting points of view acknowledged?
- Are emotional words and expressions used to sway the reader?
- Is the presentation logical and sensible?
- Point of view: is the material biased by the author’s personal
beliefs, and/or the general political or social climate?
Conclusion: After considering all these criteria, does
the source seem appropriate for your assignment?
