Evaluating Information

When you begin a research project, you must consider which sources to use. While using a wide variety of sources is a good idea, there are several evaluation tips to keep in mind.

Why use books?

Most books that are in your school library have gone through a process of review before being published. That means that an editor or editors have read the author’s work carefully for factual errors. This “filter” of the publishing world leads to greater reliability for the kinds of print resources you find in your school library.

Author Editor Publisher Reviews Library collection

What to consider about books:

Even though books usually have an editorial filter, you still must ask some questions about them to know they are right for your project.

Author Is the author a recognized expert in his or her field? What else has this author published?

Audience Which audience is the book intended for? Some books are written for the general public while other are written for government reports, the business community, or students and professors.

Bias Does the book take one side of an issue or another? If it does take one viewpoint, does it acknowledge the arguments against that view? Are the arguments presented logically? Does the author use facts or merely opinion to back up his or her points? Does the author cite the source of facts used in the book?

Date Look at the copyright date for the book. Some topics in literature and history can use sources that were written a long time ago. If your topic is on a current event or is science-related, you will want to find books published recently. Can you think of topics that would require more current information? Can you think of topics where older books might offer an important historical look at the topic?

Evaluating Periodicals

First of all, what is a periodical? This term is used for magazines, newspapers, and journals—print publications that are published weekly, monthly, etc.

Why use magazines and journals?

First of all, you should understand the difference between a magazine and a journal.

Magazines are written for the general public. They include titles like Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Health, etc. Their articles are usually short and do not include citations for sources. Journalists write the articles; the editors at their magazines check the articles for factual accuracy. In addition, the magazines may cover many different topics, and they usually have advertising in them.

Journals are written by specialists in a field for others investigating topics in the field. They include titles like The New England Journal of Medicine, Economy and Society, and Science. Articles in journals are usually long and use citations to show which sources were used. Journals usually focus on just one topic and a committee comprised of experts in the field has reviewed their articles. Little or no advertising appears in journals, and they are published less frequently than most magazines.

Newspapers are frequently associated with specific locales. For example, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and the Bakersfield Californian report on news in certain areas of our country. Some newspapers look at topics related to certain areas. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, focuses on business news. Newspaper articles are written by journalists whose work is reviewed by an internal editor. Newspapers share many other characteristics with magazines.

Articles from magazines and journals can add more depth to your research. You can find out what is being written about your topic in the press. As with books, you should consider who the author is as well as the date of publication of the article you’re interested in. Can you think of topics that would be good to research in periodicals?

Where can I find these types of publications? You will be able to find many periodical articles in the online databases your school subscribes to. Some libraries may also have periodicals in print for you to look through.

Using the Internet

Many researchers want to head straight to web pages on the Internet to find information on their topics. While it is certainly true that the Internet makes some types of researching easier, most Internet sites do not have the publishing filter that books and periodicals do. Anyone can put anything on the Internet. Looking at print sources first is a good research strategy for most topics.

Because web sites are less likely to be reliable than print resources, you must learn to evaluate web sites very carefully.