LibGuides: English 100 Jones: Colorism: Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources: Sample Articles

The Weakest Link: Deciding When to Say

Goodbye to a Questionable Article or Web Source

Select the source you’ve used (other than a book) that you think may be the weakest or least important of the sources you found. Write the title here:
What type of source is it? (magazine article, website, newspaper article, “I don’t know”) (raise your hand for some help).
Who is the author(s) that created it? Look at the bullet points on 1) of your blue Guidelines hand out and evaluate the author. Do some searching. Write some notes for yourself:
If you found the article on a website, what is the nature and purpose of the website? (Look at bullets under 2) on blue handout). Make some notes.
What is the content of the article? Look at the 9 criteria on your blue sheet under 3). Take about 5 minutes to answer a few of the questions.
With a partner, take turns discussing what you discovered. What did you decide. Is your article appropriate for a college level research paper?
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Once you find books, articles, essays, web pages or other documents on a research topic, it is very important to evaluate those sources of information to try to develop a general understanding of the purpose, value, perspective and quality of any source you use in your research.