Evaluating Sources Checklist
The Publisher
- What type of press are they? Academic? Commercial? Professional/Scholarly Organization? Vanity?
- Does the publisher use a peer-review process for accepting items for publication?
- Find out more about a publisher by using the following sources:
- Writer's Market (REF PN161 .W8 2004)
- the publisher's web site
- Publisher search in Books in Print
- Magazines for Libraries (REF PN 4832 .K2)
-
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
- Left Guide (REF HS2321 .L44) and Right Guide (REF HS2321 .R54) for periodicals and organizations with a political point of view
The Author
- Who wrote this work? What are his or her qualifications?
- Find out what else this person has written. Do searches in FRANCIS,
Expanded Academic Index,
Web of Science, or indexes and databases specific to the subject area of the work.
- Lots of articles in the same publication on a wide variety of unrelated topics may indicate that the person is a staff writer, and not an expert in the area.
- Read the author information on the book jacket and note the writer's institutional affiliation in articles. Find biographical information about the author using
Biography Resource Center or searching the author's institutional web site. If the author is an organization, search
Associations Unlimited or visit the organization's web site to learn more about them.
The Evidence and Organization
- Does the work have a bibliography? Does it seem comprehensive or just a selected list?
- Does the author cite sources within the text to provide evidence? How reliable and authoritative are these sources?
- Does the work have a table of contents and index?
The Reputation or Contribution to the Field
- How has this work, or other works by this author, been received by others in the field?
- For books, read book reviews. Learn more about finding book reviews.
- Have others cited this work? Do a cited reference search in
Web of Science to see who has cited the work.
The Publication Date
If your topic is very current or new developments happen frequently:
- Is the information current enough for the topic?
- Are the cited references current?