Evaluating Sources
The first step to writing a good research paper is to have good research to help you draw your conclusions. To help ensure that you are using good research when writing your paper you must evaluate each source based on a set of criteria:
Websites and tips to help you evaluate sources:
What kind of information is it?
Primary – original source document (diary, letter, research report)
Secondary – filtered, analyzed, processed by someone not the original producer
Tertiary – information about information (two degrees of separation)
Who is the author? What are his/her credentials? What is his/her reputation as an information provider?
Who is supplying the information for the author? What is their reputation as an information provider? Do they bring a bias to the information provided?
Why is the information being provided? Does the provider have a personal agenda?
Who is the audience for the information? Target audience influences language, detail, subject, and accuracy of information.
Where did the information come from? Is the author the primary source? If the author used other sources in gathering the information, does he/she identify them? Are they reliable, trustworthy, and accurate sources?
In what kind of publication is the information provided? What is the mission of the publication – to entertain, educate, market?
How current is the information? Is this important to your topic?
How accurate is the information? Does it agree with other sources of information on the topic?
Websites and tips to help you evaluate sources:
WhoIs? - a website that will tell you who a domain name is registered to
Domain name registries - find out what type of organization owns the website you're looking at
Put "link:URL" into your favorite search engine to find out what other sites are linking to the website you're looking at
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