Evaluate all information, whether from a book, article, or website.
These guidelines were derived from General Guidelines, Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University.
MLA also provides a checklist for evaluating sources.
Searching for information about the author or organization responsible for the website, article, or book is an excellent way of evaluating sources. This method is called lateral reading.
Below is a link to an article from ProQuest Historical New York Times. It is an interview with Harold Bride, a radio transmitter, who was working aboard the Titanic when it sank. Bride survived and was interviewed days after the event for this article. (You do not need to read the entire article.)
Bride, Harold. "Surviving Wireless Operator of the Titanic. Thrilling Story by Titanic's Surviving Wireless Man. Bride Tells How He and Phillips worked and How He Finished a Stoker Who Tried to Steal Phillips's Life Belt". New York Times (1857-1922), Apr 19, 1912, pp. 1. ProQuest, Accessed 7 May 2021.
First hand accounts of events are considered primary sources of information. A secondary source would be someone else describing what Bride experienced. Primary sources are excellent to use for research papers; however, you can usually use both primary and secondary sources in your work depending on your assignment.
While primary sources are excellent to use for research papers, sometimes personal interviews may not necessarily be an accurate description of events. Each witness may have a different perspective of the event. Our view is sometimes obscured by personal emotions, our self-identity, or community values. Consider, for example, when law enforcement officers interview witnesses at the scene of a car accident. Do all witnesses report the exact same sequence of events? Should as many personal accounts as possible be gathered in an attempt to reconstruct the accident?
Magazines are written for the general public. They often have a lot of advertisements in them.
Journals, on the other hand, are targeted to students or professionals working in a particular field. The usually have very few ads in them. The articles usually include bibliographies at at the end and the author's or authors' credentials (where they went to college and where they work) are given.
Sometimes a publication is peer-reviewed which means that all of the articles have been read and approved for publication by experts in the field.
Peer reviewed materials are excellent sources of information for scholarly papers!
SCHOLARLY JOURNALS |
TRADE MAGAZINES |
POPULAR MAGAZINES |
|
Appearance |
plain cover plain paper black/white graphics & illustrations, many charts & graphs pages consecutive throughout each volume |
cover depicts industrial setting glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
eye-catching cover glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
Audience |
students studying in a particular field, researchers, or professionals |
members of a specific business, industry, or organization |
nonprofessionals |
Content |
research projects, methodology, & theory articles written by contributing authors |
industry trends, new products or techniques, & organizational news articles written by staff or contributing authors |
personalities, news, & general interest articles articles written by staff, may be unsigned |
Accountability |
peer reviewed/refereed bibliographies included |
editorial review may have short bibliographies |
editorial review no bibliographies |
Advertisements |
very few or no ads |
all or most of the ads are trade related |
many ads throughout |
Examples |
Critical Care Nurse Current Psychology Journal of Small Business Management Literature-Film Quarterly |
Business Marketing Dairy Farmer Hospital Law Newsletter Nursing Times
|
Ladies Home Journal New York Psychology Today Sports Illustrated |