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EVALUATING SOURCES
When you evaluate a source for possible inclusion in a research paper, ask yourself the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Is the information accurate?
Has the author given sources for his/her information?
Is the article a scholarly or popular treatment?
What do you know about the author? Is he or she an authority on the topic
addressed in the book?
5. Has the author interpreted information fairly? Is the basis for the interpretation
clearly stated?
6. Has the author defined terms clearly?
7. Has the author argued logically, or has he or she used ad hominem arguments,
faulty cause and effect, either/or reasoning or faulty generalizations?
8. Has the author made conclusions that go beyond the scope of his or her study?
9. What are the author's assumptions about his or her audience or subject? Are they
clearly stated or implicit?
10. What is the nature of the source? What is the political or critical stance of the
journal or book your source comes from?
11. Is the source current?
12. What do reviews have to say about the source?
13. Is the author's research design valid? What type of controls has he or she used?
Has he or she taken account of uncontrolled variables?
14. Is the article relevant to your topic?
The above questions were adapted from:
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J.
Rosen.
The Little, Brown Guide to Writing Research Papers, 3rd edition, by Michael Meyer.
The Writing Center: Evaluating Sources