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Evaluating Sources for a Research Paper When choosing sources for a research paper, you need to think critically about each sources reliability. By considering the authors qualifications and analysing and evaluating the content, you can decide whether to accept or reject the authors claims. The following strategies will help you choose reliable sources for your research papers. Pay attention to the authors credentials and the publishing information. Ask yourself Is the author a reputable scholar in his or her field? What are the authors credentialshis or her education, professional experience, and institutional affiliation? What is the date of publication? Is the material current or out-of-date for the subject? If you are researching in the humanities, you may use material written some time ago. If you are researching in science or technology, you will want material that it as up-to-date as possible. Who is the publisher? Books published by university presses or articles published in professional or scholarly journals are more likely to be reliable. Take care with Internet sourcesnot all of them are reliable, particularly bulletin board postings. You are better off with electronic sources that are clearly professional or scholarly publications.

Analyse and evaluate the content of sources. Ask yourself Is the material at the appropriate level of sophistication for my needs? Is the material a primary source (such as letters, government documents, contemporary newspaper accounts, and reports on the results of an experiment) or a secondary source (i.e., books and articles based on primary sources)? Because secondary sources restate, interpret or evaluate primary sources, you need to watch for biases or inaccuracies in a secondary source. What is the authors position on the issue? Does the author support his or her position with sufficient facts? Facts are objective and verifiablethey are based on and can therefore be proven by direct observation or experience.

If the author draws inferences (i.e., conclusions) from his or her evidence, are those inferences reasonable? Do they follow logically from the facts? Has the author supported his or her position with opinions? An opinion is an interpretation of or a belief about a subject. Opinions are subjective they express judgements/evaluations and reflect feelings. Opinions cannot be proven, but some opinions are more valid than others. You are more likely to find expert opinions expressed by reputable scholars or experts writing for reputable publications. Has the author made any mistakes in reasoning? There are a number of errors in reasoning (called logical fallacies) that can undermine the effectiveness of an argument. These errors include o distorting or oversimplifying a point of view different from ones own o oversimplifying a complex issue by presenting it in blackand-white, either/or terms o arguing that something is right because it has always been done that way or because it is a tradition. [Slavery has been a tradition in various places at various times, but that fact doesnt make slavery right.] o arguing that a position is right because most people support it. The majority is not right if it supports an unjust cause. o stating that because B came after A, A must have caused B to happen o making exaggerated predictions about the consequences of an action o making sweeping generalizations (stating that something is true in all cases or false in all cases). Such statements are rarely accurate.