Justice, Community, and Leadership

Figuring out if a source is popular or scholarly is called "Source Evaluation". Scholarly sources are not always "good" and popular sources are not always "bad". Instead, it's how we use the source that determines if it's appropriate for our research. Once you figure out if a source is popular or scholarly, you can decide if it's appropriate to use in your paper: 

Is a source popular or scholarly? Use the chart below to see which characteristics your source most likely matches: 

When you are figuring out if a source is credible or not, it is helpful to ask yourself the following questions: 

Authority: Who is the author?

• What else has the author written?
• In which communities and contexts does the author have expertise?
  • Does the author represent a particular set of world views?
  • Do they privilege some sources of authority over others?
  • Do they have a formal role in a particular institution (e.g. a professor at Oxford)?

Purpose: Why was this source created?

• Does it have an economic value? Is the author or publisher trying to sell something? 
• Is it an educational resource or a persuasive resource?
• What (research) questions does it attempt to answer?
  • Does it strive to be objective?
• Who is the intended audience?
  • Is it for scholars or is it for a general audience?

Publication & format: Where was it published?

• Who was the publisher? Was it a university press?
  • Was it formally peer-reviewed?​
  • Does the publication have a particular editorial position?
• Is it generally thought to be a conservative or progressive outlet?
  • Is the publication sponsored by any other companies or organizations? Do the sponsors have particular biases?
• Was it self-published?
  • Were there outside editors or reviewers?
• In what medium? 
  • Was it published online or in print? Both?  Is it a blog post? A YouTube video? A TV episode? An article from a print magazine?
• What does the medium tell you about the intended audience or about the purpose of the piece?

Relevance: How is it relevant to your research?

• Does it analyze primary sources that you're researching?
• What is the scope of coverage?
  • Is it a general overview or an in-depth analysis?
  • Does the scope match your own information needs?
  • Is the time period and geographic region relevant to your research?

Date of Publication: When was the source first published?

• What version or edition of the source are you consulting?
  • Are there differences in editions, such as new introductions or footnotes?
  • If the publication is online, when was it last updated?
• What has changed in your field of study since the publication date?
  • Are there any published reviews, responses or rebuttals?

Documentation: Did they cite their sources?

• If not, do you have any other means to verify the reliability of their claims?
• Who do they cite?
  • Is the author affiliated with any of the authors they're citing?
  • Are the cited authors part of a particular academic movement or school of thought?
• Look closely at the quotations and paraphrases from other sources:
  • Did they appropriately represent the context of their cited sources?
  • Did they ignore any important elements from their cited sources?
  • Are they cherry-picking facts to support their own arguments?
  • Did they appropriately cite ideas that were not their own?