If you have doubts about an on-line source, you can discuss it with your instructor or TA and you can elect not to use it. Privacy policy. Do. Use information from a textbook only for the background information necessary to build the foundation for your more innovative argument. Can you identify who the author is? Lateral reading is the act of evaluating the credibility of a source by comparing it with other sources. It is important to consider how the author uses these sources. Social media posts, blogs, and personal websites can be good resources for a situational analysis or grounding of your preliminary ideas, but exercise caution here. As you cannot possibly read every source related to your topic, you can use preliminary evaluation to determine which sources might be relevant. The CRAAP test is an acronym to help you evaluate the credibility of a source you are considering using. Research 101: Credibility is contextual Students recognize that credibility may vary by context and information need. The importance of the information for your needs. Privacy policy. If the author is affiliated with a reputable institution or organization, what are its values and goals? 208 Hamilton Hall, Mail Code 28051130 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027, Follow on Facebook Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram, 510 Mudd Hall, Mail Code 4714500 W. 120th St.New York, NY 10027, 2023 Columbia University | Privacy | Terms of Use | Accessibility | Notice of Non-Discrimination |University Home Page, Remember, your use of sources is a means of supporting the argument you make. There are several factors that contribute to a source's credibility. Who are the intended readers and what is the publication's purpose? This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Evaluating Your Sources. It ensures that you collect accurate information to back up the arguments you make and the conclusions you draw. This will give you an overview of the source. Useful approaches include the CRAAP test and lateral reading. When was the website last updated? These sections usually provide information about who the author is and what sort of . 2 Mar. Remember that scholarly sources often have a very particular audience in mind, and popular sources are written for a more general audience. However, you might not want to quote a tweet by someone with an anonymous name and a Twitter handle such as @iluvscience321. Validity is harder to assess, but it can be estimated by comparing the results to other relevant data or theory. If you don't find your topic discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the Index. Always make sure to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism. Which of the following sources appear credible and which appear questionable: Stem Cell Basics. Timeliness. ACRL Framework: Authority is Constructed and Contextual This article has been viewed 849,783 times. Are your sources credible? By following these guidelines, you can produce a high-quality research paper that showcases your research skills and impresses your audience. Paper Research Paper Sources for a Research Paper. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Eoghan Ryan. If you are researching for an academic paper, then you need to have very credible,. This resource will teach your students how to locate reliable sources and how to evaluate websites for accuracy and credibility. Discuss the information you find with your health care provider before you rely on it. Others may become caught up in a heavily unbalanced viewpoint and can take some timemonths perhapsto regain a better-balanced consensus (see Researching with Wikipedia). Published on Are there any oversights or weaknesses in the research? You may have to go back to the home page of the site to see credentials. 1) Accuracy. What to look for when evaluating online sources Author. It is an important component of information literacy. One of the best ways to evaluate source credibility is the CRAAP test. As you examine each source, it is important to evaluate each source to determine the quality of the information provided within it. It can take just one instance of you sharing inaccurate information for people to start questioning your credibility. For this reason, academic journals are often considered among the most credible sources you can use in a research project provided that the journal itself is trustworthy and well-regarded. Using credible and relevant sources is important. Google Apps. Your assignment might have parameters on format and medium, but . The purpose of my source is to educate or inform, not to sell a product or push a particular opinion. The credibility of an author is very important in determining the quality of sources you have located and are thinking of using for your research project. This is a great place to kick off your research. Possessing these skills will give you the ability to objectively and successfully critique online materials. Any resourceprint, human, or electronicused to support your research topic must be evaluated for its credibility and reliability. 2 . Copyright 1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. You may need to do research to uncover the answers to some of these questions, but considering these questions and the answers is an important step in determining credibility of a source. Third, how current is the source? Watch this video to learn how to choose the most reliab. Google Scholar is a search engine for academic sources. For example, as recently as the 1960s, most scholarly linguists believed African American Vernacular English to be a deficient, broken form of standard American English reflective of African Americans lack of cognitive abilities. There are large, famous organizations that are still known to have biases. Use credible research sources to strengthen your arguments. "Dialect, Interaction And Class Positioning At School: From Deficit To Difference To Repertoire." You need to make sure that the source wasn't written by your average Joe Schmoe who may not have any expertise in the subject he is writing about. Anne Burke Associate Head, Learning Spaces & Services Video added on June 1, 2015 Credits Anne Burke: Project Lead, Storyboards Lisa Becksford: Script, Editing Only then will an article be published in a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal. Having information listed in more than one place increases its credibility. The information should be up to date and current. If you have never heard of the source, you probably should do some research to learn about it. To evaluate internet sources: Its important to understand the types of sources and how you should use them in your field of research. However, if you used a different search engine, such as Yahoo or Bing, your results may differ. For example, Hoosier State Chronicles is a database that only houses Indiana newspapers, while JSTOR is a database that holds a wider variety of journals and books. Podcasts are becoming a much more popular digital medium today. Secondly, you should think about bias. 2015. Consider the tone, style, vocabulary, level of information, and assumptions the author makes about the reader. Websites with some sort of commercial aspect end in .com (or .co.uk, or another country-specific domain). "Informative, critical and genuine. Name recognition is often the first thing you consider to determine reliability. Does the Author Have an Agenda? Common evaluation criteria include: purpose and intended audience, authority and credibility, accuracy and reliability, currency and timeliness, and objectivity or bias. It is more appropriate to compare something to an objective standard than to label it with words that represent abstract concepts for example, "these and other illegal acts" is preferable to "these and other despicable acts". {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/a\/ae\/Evaluate-the-Credibility-of-a-Source-Step-9-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Evaluate-the-Credibility-of-a-Source-Step-9-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/a\/ae\/Evaluate-the-Credibility-of-a-Source-Step-9-Version-2.jpg\/aid368290-v4-728px-Evaluate-the-Credibility-of-a-Source-Step-9-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"