There are several factors that you will need to consider when evaluating a source: the author, the publisher, the date, the evidence, and the bias.
Depending on the type of source you are looking at and your research topic, some factors may be more important than others. It is important to consider all factors when evaluating a source, since the evaluation factors all work together to determine if a source is credible or not.
The author is the person or organization who created a source. A credible author should be considered an expert on a topic and have the authority to speak on a topic. To be considered an expert, an author must have a high level of education and/or significant experience related to a topic.
An author with a high level of education about a topic will likely have a PhD (the highest degree you can have in a subject) in a related subject to the research topic.
It is important if you are looking at an author's education to consider what their PhD is in. An author with a PhD in English Literature would not be a credible author to write about a topic that has to do with biology. Even though they have a PhD, it is not in a related field (English Literature), so they would not be considered an expert in biology.
Not every author you find will have a PhD on a topic. For some topics, a PhD might not be relevant to be an expert, such as for auto mechanics. A credible author should have significant experience in a topic. Experience can be:
Some sources will have a short biography about the author with the source. If you don't have a biography available, it is acceptable to Google the author to find more information about them. Be on the lookout for:
It is common for some sources not to have an author listed (reference sources like encyclopedias often don't have an author listed). When you have a source that does not have an author, use the other evaluation factors (publisher, date, evidence, and bias) to determine if a source is credible or not.
Where a source is published, and by whom, is another important factor for a source's credibility.
Ask yourself, is the publisher of the source:
Ask yourself:
Peer-review is a process that academic articles go through in order to get published in an academic journal. After an article is submitted to a journal for publication, a board of experts will review an article to determine whether or not the article should be published in the journal.
Check out the below video from North Carolina State University to learn more about peer-review.
Some sources are published only on a web hosting platform or have been self-published. If you find a source that is self-published, you should pay close attention to the other evaluation factors, since a work that has been self-published may not have had anyone fact-check the author's work.
Always check the date of a source you are using. You want to make sure your information is current and not outdated.
Depending on the subject that you are researching, the date of the source may or may not be important.
The date does not matter as much because the historical event/literary work has not changed. However, still consider the date of the source, because our interpretation of a historical event or literary work may have changed over time.
For example, the text of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has not changed since it was written in 1817, so a source from 1950 is probably fine to use. You would just need to consider what life an attitudes were like in 1950, because that could influence how Frankenstein is written about.
For subjects like technology, business, science, medicine, etc. the date will matter, because information in those subject areas becomes outdated very quickly.
For example, an article talking about iPhones that was published in 2011 would be very outdated, because iPhones today work very differently than iPhones in 2011.
Credible sources should publish accurate, reliable, and true information. Credible sources have evidence that backs up their claims. Without evidence, a source is just an opinion piece and may not be considered credible.
Check to see if a source has a Works Cited/References page at the end of the article. Take a look at the author's citations to see who they are citing. Credible sources will only cite other credible sources.
Statistics are a great source of evidence, but you want to be sure the information is accurate and found through a trustworthy source and are not being used to mislead you. Statistics are often taken out of context of their original study, so it can also be helpful to try and find the original study the statistics were published in.
Some sources may not include a formal Works Cited/References page. In that case, while reading the article, pay attention to if the author mentions any other experts or studies as evidence to support their argument. Even if the author doesn't have a formal sources list, they should give you enough information that you could find more information about the expert or the study the author is referencing.
Good example of evidence: A 2021 study by Pew Research Center found almost a quarter of U.S. adults did not read a book last year.
With this information, you could find the entire study from the Pew Research Center website.
Bad example of evidence: A study found that a quarter of U.S. adults did not read a book last year.
There is no way to tell where this information came from. Who conducted the study? Who participated in the study? How did they arrive at this conclusion?
Every source has a mission, goal, or purpose. It might be to educate, entertain, sell, or persuade the reader of something. Because of this, in some way, every source is going to have a bias.
A biased source only gives a reader a certain perspective on a topic, usually the perspective that the author wants the reader to hear. A biased source will not consider an opposing viewpoint about their topic, only their viewpoint. Biased does not always mean a bad source; it just means that the source is presenting the information from a certain point of view.
Just because a source has a bias does not mean you cannot use it. If you have a biased source you want to use for research:
Some sources, especially studies, might have some sort of financial bias. This means that because the research was funded by a certain organization, the results of the study might be skewed to make the funding organization happy. When possible, try to figure out some background information about the study: who funded the research? Does anyone have a personal stake in the results?
For example, a study that was originally funded by a cell phone company may find that cell phones are not a factor in distracted driving. However, a study not funded by a cell phone company might find that cell phones are the leading contributor to distracted driving.
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