How to Evaluate Research Materials After You Find Them

• the reputation of the author (may include credentials, training, background-- they don't have to be Einstein)
• the type of and reputation of the book, journal, magazine or online source (for example, in popular magazines, the Atlantic Monthly has an excellent reputation as a source; the National Enquirer does not)
• who published it (again, some publishers are more reputable than others)
• how recent the material is (more important in some fields, such as medicine or physics than others, such as literature)
• Is the material in the library? It is more time-effective and often more credible to use research sources from an academic library than from other places.
• Materials from the Internet, if not from a recognizable source, must be evaluated as carefully as or more carefully than materials from the library, since the content, authorship and provision of Internet publications is always subject to question.

• More about evaluation of sources
• How to tell journals from magazines
• How to evaluate Internet sources: a checklist

Do you have enough material of the right kinds? Are there any limitations on what you may use?

Quoting authors with good reputations and credentials lends credence to points you make in a paper or speech; persons or sources with a reputation of being unreliable can do the opposite. Internet sources vary as widely as printed sources in quality and reputation, and many more individuals, regardless of their credentials, publish on the Internet.

Since authors always have personal biases, and publications often have agendas, remember that what you read in print, or on the computer screen, isn't necessarily true or at least, is not the whole story. Expect that a publication from a religious organization will support that group's beliefs; likewise, if a magazine has a political agenda, such as Mother Jones, Ms. or National Review, you must expect articles in it to support its cause.

One of the reasons that professors will recommend scholarly journals is that the information in them has been both researched and approved of by others in the field, usually with degrees or experience or both, before it is published, unlike popular magazines or other materials which may or may not have been researched in any depth.