Source Evaluation and Selection

Now that you are both familiar and comfortable with searching for journal articles and books using the Blackwell Library databases and book catalog,  you need to learn how to perform a quick - yet thorough - analysis of the sources you have found before actually using them.  In this module we will cover how to analyze print sources via five basic points, as well as how to analyze online (web) sources.  In the following fifth (and final) module, you will learn how to properly cite - in ACS format - all of the sources that you have found and then analyzed for accuracy, validity, and scholarship. 

Analyzing Sources:  The Bibliographic Citation

While you can be fairly certain that the materials you find via the Blackwell databases or book catalogs are valid sources, it never hurts to get into the habit of asking yourself a few crucial questions about each and every source you find.  The following five basic points are key ones when analyzing a material's validity and content:

Author

What are the author's credentials--institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise?

Has your instructor mentioned this author? Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. For this reason, always note those names that appear in many different sources.

Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization? What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution?

 

Date of Publication

When was the source published? This date is often located on the face of the title page below the name of the publisher. If it is not there, look for the copyright date on the reverse of the title page. On Web pages, the date of the last revision is usually at the bottom of the home page, sometimes every page.

Is the source current or out-of-date for your topic? Topic areas of continuing and rapid development, such as the sciences, demand more current information. On the other hand, topics in the humanities often require material that was written many years ago. At the other extreme, some news sources on the Web now note the hour and minute that articles are posted on their site.

 

Edition or Revision

Is this a first edition of this publication or not? Further editions indicate a source has been revised and updated to reflect changes in knowledge, include omissions, and harmonize with its intended reader's needs. Also, many printings or editions may indicate that the work has become a standard source in the area and is reliable. If you are using a Web source, do the pages indicate revision dates?

 

Publisher

Note the publisher. If the source is published by a university press or a reputable organization such as the American Chemical Society, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.

 

Title of Journal

Is this a scholarly or a popular journal? This distinction is important because it indicates different levels of complexity in conveying ideas. If you need help in determining the type of journal, see Cornell Library's page explaining the difference between the various types:   Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals.

Depending on which Blackwell database you search within, the types of results you get can vary widely.  Searching within the ACS database all you will get will be scholarly (also called 'academic') journal articles, because the only types of journals that ACS indexes are scholarly sources.  Searching in a different database - for example - Academic Search Complete - will get you a hodgepodge of results.  Academic Search Complete indexes scholarly journals, but they also index popular sources (such as People magazine, the New York Times newspaper, and National Geographic) and what are considered 'trade' titles - like the journal Computers in Industry. 

It is very important to pay attention to which database you are searching, and to keep an eye on your search results so that you can keep track of the types of journal articles that you are finding and reviewing. 

Evaluating Web Sources

Because the web is extremely unregulated, it is extremely important for you to be particularly careful about analyzing the online web sources that you find and decide to use. 

Note that searching within an (online) Blackwell database for journal articles is *not* the same as using a web source!

One of the best key criteria for evaluating a web site is to look at the site's URL.  For example, http://www.salisbury.edu shows you that the site is an academic one (all academic sites end with .edu) and that Salisbury is the organization.  The following chart reviews the four basic web site domains and their characteristics. 

Source: Library Skills and Information Literacy Department, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD 20783.  www.umuc.edu