Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources

Carefully evaluate all information, whether from a book, article, or website, by asking the following questions:

• Who?  Who is the author of this source?
  • Are they qualified to write/speak on the subject?
  • Do you detect any bias on the author’s part in relation to the subject?
• What? What is the source?
  • Does it have a title?
  • Is it a primary source, such as an original document or creative work or is it a secondary source, such as a report or analysis of primary sources?
  • Is it authoritative or trustworthy?
• How?
  • How was the source produced?
  • Who is the publisher or sponsoring organization?
• Where did you find the source?
  • Was it through a library’s databases or through an internet search engine that may list results in a biased or weighted manner?
• When was the source published?
  • Has it been replaced or updated?

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., The Modern Language Association, 2016, pp. 11-12.

MLA also provides a checklist for evaluating sources. 

Other library research guides on this topic

• Media Literacy
• Misinformation, Propaganda & Misleading News
• Science Misinformation

A Rough Guide to Spotting Bad Science handout

Brunning, Andy. "A Rough Guide to Spotting Bad Science." Ci: Compound Interest, Andy Brunning/Compound Interest, 2023, www.compoundchem.com/2014/04/02/a-rough-guide-to-spotting-bad-science/. Accessed 24 August 2023.