ART 2330: Photography: a Cultural History

Why Sources Matter: Evaluating Sources

Travis needed to use an academic or scholarly peer-reviewed source for an assignment in Photography History. He asked me about it and I explained what that means (see below under Source Types). It is important to always use sources you can rely on. This means that authors are named and they state where they find their information, and the publication has a good reputation for being trustworthy.

Credibility or Evidence

Credibility means that the source relies upon facts, the author has credentials or has asked an expert, and often the source is reviewed by others (peer reviewed or double-checked) to ensure that all is correct. Usually this means the information is backed up by evidence (footnotes to reliable studies or statistics, etc.). Also when a reliable publication is published, whether academic, peer-reviewed, or not, there is usually an editorial process that checks for any errors. This is not the case for most social media posts or personal pages on the open Web. 

A more helpful way to think about this idea is to ask questions about your sources, such as these:

• WHO provides the information?  Do the authors have expertise or credentials?  Or did they consult with experts?
• WHAT information are the authors presenting? What about it makes it reliable?  Are sources given?
• WHY are the authors sharing this information?  What is its purpose?  Is there any bias?
• WHERE did you find the information?  Is it associated with a reliable institution or could it be from a fringe group?

What if you still don't feel confident in choosing credible sources?

Source Types 

You should probably look at the source type, since all sources are published differently and this can affect their credibility. A social media post from an unknown person cannot be considered reliable, for instance. Here's a summary of the different source types you might use in ART 2330:

• Scholarly (and / or peer-reviewed) journal articles: an article that's been double-checked by scholars before publication
• Academic books: a book, reviewed by an editor who is a scholar and one that follows academic standards, in print or as an e-book
• Trade magazine or profession-related articles: an article by a professional in the field designed for an average worker get information 
• Magazine articles and newspaper articles: written by professional journalists in the field (according to proper journalism ethics)

Finding Good Sources

Did you know that the most credible sources often cost money to view?

This can cause problems when you research because less credible sources on the Web are easier to access and often come up first in results. Our Library pays publishers to let you read the most credible sources for FREE with our Library Databases, so it's worthwhile to use them.

What about Using A.I. for research?

Please do not use ChatGPT or other A.I. generators to find sources along with their references. Your teachers and I have found that A.I. tools, because of the way they are made and get their content, are so focused on giving you an answer that they make up references and citations (see the linked research). When this happens, the A.I. tool won't be able to tell you that it is lying. This is a big problem if you start your research in an A.I. tool because it might set you up to fail! It's better to use Library databases and make sure that you are referencing actual research!  

Continue to the next section to see examples of resources for this class. Use the forward link at the bottom right.