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Finding and Using Information for Research Projects

This self-paced tutorial guides users through the process of finding and using information for research projects. It is general enough to apply to most disciplines.

Evaluate Sources

This section of the tutorial provides strategies and considerations for you to critically evaluate the sources you find for inclusion in your assignment, project, or other information need.

How do you decide which information sources are "good"?

It depends.

Evaluation is an art, not a science, because every topic and situation is different. Citing a social media post may be out of place in a paper about the causes of World War II, but a presentation on online bullying might benefit from real-world examples. Below are some strategies you can apply to make this process a little easier. Evaluating sources starts during your search. Keep in mind that these ideas do not represent all possible ways you can evaluate a resource!

Before reading the whole source, determine if it fits with your topic:

  1. Look through your search results to see which ones appear most relevant to your topic- the ones that most closely match your topic. Focus on titles, subjects, and bold face terms*. (*Look for the bold face or highlighted words in the record of a database search- those match your search terms and if you see a lot of bold face, the source might be useful.)
  2. Skim the abstract or summary. This will help you decide if you should read the whole article.
  3. Look good? Start by skimming through the methods, results, and discussion sections.
  4. If you skim the source and it still looks good, read the whole thing. Don't spend time reading sources that don't work for your topic! (And feel free to go beyond the first page of results to find useful sources.)

Ask questions about your sources

Ask questions about your sources

During evaluation (even during the process of skimming the source), you can apply questions from the "5 W's" (expand each section to learn more):

  • Who is responsible for the information?
  • Who is their audience?
  • Who has fact-checked this information?
  • Whose perspectives are present?
  • Whose perspectives are missing?
  • Who has already evaluated this source?

  • What information are the authors presenting?
  • What steps did they take to publish the information?
  • What credentials do they have to write about or research this topic?
  • What kind of language are the authors using?
  • What kinds of sources are they citing?

  • When was the information collected?
  • When was it published?
  • How current of information do I need?
  • Does historical information help with my research too?

  • Where would this information be applicable?
  • Where did I find the information?
  • Is the information specific to a certain geographic area?

  • Why did the authors share this information?
  • Why did they share it in the format they selected?
  • Why does this information source exist?
  • Why did the authors use the quotes, sources, language, etc. that they used?

  • How did the authors/researchers get their results?
  • How do they prove their claims and present their information?
  • How does this information relate to my topic/project?
  • How has it changed my understanding of this topic?
  • How does this source relate to the other sources I'm considering?

Answering some of these questions can sometimes be done with a quick web search. Search the name of the journal or publication to see what Wikipedia says about it. Search the authors to see if they're controversial or well respected. Fact check news articles (oftentimes others have done the work for you).

Final suggestions

Final suggestions:

  • Don't assume that one format of information is better than others... scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles demand the same amount of evaluation as a website does.
  • Don't cherry-pick your sources! They should come from a variety of perspectives and contain objective information that you can then use to build up your arguments. If you only cite sources from one side of the issue, you may not be seeing or presenting the whole picture to your reader.
  • Consider your purpose and potential biases as you research and create your information product (presentation, paper, poster, etc.), and don't be afraid to explore or include resources that present an opposing viewpoint to your own. This is how we learn and grow!
  • Consider exploring the Four Moves/SIFT process (Mike Caulfield) for evaluating online information. The steps are to Stop, Investigate, Find Better Coverage, and Trace back to the original context.