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Evaluating Sources

This Library Research Guide will provide you with information that you can use to critically evaluate sources including websites, articles and reports, books and ebooks, etc.

Claims

The next step is to investigate the claims they're making. Is the information they're providing accurate?

Evaluating claims can be challenging, especially if you're not an expert in the subject. Here’s how to navigate this:

  1. Find Multiple Experts: Use the internet to locate several experts on the topic.

  2. Assess Credentials: Apply your skills from the previous section to filter out self-proclaimed “experts” without real qualifications.

  3. Look for Consensus: Review the remaining credible experts to identify any consensus and understand the reasons behind it.

  4. Practice Lateral Reading This link opens in a new window: This technique involves checking multiple sources to gather a broader perspective on the topic.

By following these steps, you can more effectively evaluate the reliability of claims.

 

Do They Cite Their Sources? You Do, So They Should Too!

Don't just accept claims that "research says" something; instead, trace the research trail to verify the information yourself. Credible researchers provide citations, bibliographies, or links to support their claims.

  1. Check their Sources: Examine the provided citations. Are they reliable? Do they genuinely support the argument being made? Be aware that some may use citations merely to appear scholarly without actual support.

  2. Look for Original Research: If a claim lacks a citation, ask: Is this original research? Are the researchers qualified? Was the research peer-reviewed?

Citing sources is essential for allowing others to verify and evaluate your work. Those detailed references serve a critical purpose! If they don't provide sources, or they don't appear to be credible, that's a red flag. 

 

The Importance of Currency

We must also make sure the information we are investigating is current and up-to-date. More recent information is usually better . . .  but not always.

For instance, newspapers and websites often contain instant, up-to-date information about a current event. This timeliness is appreciated at the moment. But it is often the later information in magazines, journal articles, or books that can bring together more sources to create a broader picture and understanding of what happened.

 

Information Timeline This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window

Adapted from "Information Timeline" This link opens in a new window by adstarkel  This link opens in a new window.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License This link opens in a new window.

 

The importance of being up-to-date also varies depending on the academic discipline. Being current tends to be highly important in fields like science, math, medicine, engineering, or any other field that relies on experimentation for data. On the other hand, disciplines like history, philosophy, or religion don't necessarily require the very latest info, often because their primary data is old in the first place.

We know this intuitively. For example, a book from 2002 about technology trends is probably completely out of date, but a book from the same year about the Civil War might be a great source. That's an easy example. When we're less familiar with the subject we're researching we might have to think consciously about whether the topic requires the latest information or not, and whether our source is a good match.

 

Test Yourself

We read a website from a chiropractor This link opens in a new window who makes claims about the health benefits of colloidal silver. We're considering using the website in our research project because it seems credible (the sources are mentioned) but on further review, the source use seems a little manipulative and misleading.

We do a Google search for "colloidal silver" to see if there's agreement about the claims. We're trying to answer these questions:

Are the claims verifiable? Do other sources agree with them?