How to: Evaluate Sources

In chapter five of Envision, we learned how to find and evaluate research sources and the right way to do so. The first thing someone must do is assemble a list of search terms/criteria about their topic. It is important to have quality search terms when researching sources. By having good search terms, you should be able to find quality, reputable sources for your specific topic. Scholars divide research into two categories: primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original texts analyzed in your research paper and secondary sources are sources that give you commentary on your primary source or just on your topic in general. Finding primary sources can sometimes be labor some and tiring, but you can find these sources in the library in: general stacks, archives, or multimedia collections. It does take time to find sources that will be useful in writing your paper.

The most important thing a person must do is evaluate their sources. There are literally millions of websites and books these days on any given topic. When looking for websites as sources, look for sites that have .org or .gov as opposed to .com. These sites most of the time are reputable, trustworthy sites. Look at the layout of the webpage and how the site looks to you. It is fairly easy to tell if some nobody made this site or if it has a scholarly background and therefore good to use. When looking at academic sources, look at the author. Do some research on the author to see what they have written. Look at the location of publication. Also look at the date the book was published to see how recent it is. Lastly, look at the table of contents/index to see if this source will be useful to you or not. At the end of your work, you must have a works cited page. A works cited page gives credit to the author that wrote the piece you used in your paper. There are different forms such as: MLA, APA, and Chicago. A works cited page is a neccesity and will prevent you from being accused of plagiarism.