Research Guides: How to Do Library Research: Evaluating Sources

Thinking Like a Fact-Checker

When doing research--whether in a library database or on the open Web--you face an onslaught of information that can get very overwhelming. How do you know what to believe? How do you decide what's credible?

The truth is, there is no easy formula for determining whether a source is authoritative and credible, but adding these four moves to your researching repertoire will help you sift through the sources you encounter. When evaluating an author's claims or evidence, make sure you:

Check for previous work: Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim, critiqued a thesis or evidence, or provided a synthesis of research.
Go upstream to the source: Go “upstream” to the source of the claim. Most web content is not original, and scholarly articles generally cite numerous other sources. Get to the original sources to understand the trustworthiness of the information, evidence, or assertion.
Read laterally: Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source--its author, the reputation of the publication it appears in, etc. Understanding the conversation about a source--including when it was published--is vital to evaluating it.
Circle back: If you get lost, hit dead ends, or find yourself going down an increasingly confusing rabbit hole, back up and start over with the knowledge that you've found. Making a fresh start with new information means you’re likely to take a more informed path, with different search terms and better decisions.

In addition to these moves, try to cultivate this mindset: stay self-critical, and check your emotions. Whether reading a Tweet, a news article, or a scholarly journal, you'll come across ideas that excite or enrage you. These are exciting moments as a researcher, because it tells you you've found something that engages you, but these moments can also be dangerous. Rather than taking a claim at face value--and then using it uncritically in a paper or, worse, sharing it on social media--STOP, and use the four techniques.

Adapted from Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Mike Caulfield

Reading More Effectively

Reading scholarly articles can be an unpleasant task, especially when you have to read a boatload of them to find out which ones are relevant. Pre-reading techniques outlined in the video below can save you a lot of time, particularly for articles in the social and natural sciences.

What does it mean for an article to be peer-reviewed?

When a researcher submits an article to a scholarly journal, a journal editor does a first pass to see if the article looks decent. Then they usually remove the name of the author and send it out to a few other experts in the field to see what they think of the article. The experts send back feedback on the article, and the journal editor decides based on that feedback whether to publish the article, or ask for revisions from the author, or deny it outright. This process is called peer-review. (However, peer-review is not foolproof: sometimes those experts miss mistakes or fraud.)

How can I tell if it has been peer-reviewed?

Screenshot of database option to Limit To Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals

One shortcut is to check the peer-reviewed box in whatever database you're using. But often the databases make mistakes.
You can double-check by looking up the journal in a database called Ulrich's.
You can also double-check by visiting the journal website and seeing what they say about peer review in their guidelines for authors. (Here's an example.)

Watch this video for more on peer review:

	Popular	Scholarly
WHO is it written by?	Journalists or professional writers	Scholars and academics, usually with an advanced degree, usually at universities and other research institutions. Scientific articles may have many co-authors.
WHO is it written for?	General audiences; people who have interest but may not have advanced degrees	Other scholars and academics in their field
WHO publishes the publication?	Could be a large mass media corporation like Condé Nast or Meredith; a small, independent publisher; a membership organization like AARP or NRA; etc.	Usually an academic publisher (e.g., Taylor & Francis, Springer), a university press (Johns Hopkins), or a scholarly society (American Psychological Association)
WHAT language does it use?	Everyday language people can understand without an advanced degree; generally has a fluid narrative that tells a story	Often uses lingo and methods specific to the field of research
WHAT is its structure?	Could be short or long; may start out with a human-interest anecdote to pull you in to the issue.	Scientific articles often start with an abstract (summary), introduction with literature review, methods, results, and conclusion. Articles in the humanities may have more of a narrative structure.
WHEN does it come out?	Daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly (or constantly, if it has digital-only content too)	Usually 2, 4, or 6 times a year; some newer digital publications post new articles on a rolling basis
WHERE does it cite sources?	May or mention the source in the body of the text ("A study by Pew Research found...") or may just make the assertion (15% of pet owners spend...).	Sources are usually cited at the end (e.g.,Works Cited, References, Bibliography).
WHY is it written?	To inform, to entertain, to persuade, to enhance writer's reputation, to make money, or for the love of writing	To inform and share knowledge and discoveries, to advance the field, to enhance writer's reputation, to earn tenure at a college or university, or for the love of the field and writing