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Evaluating Sources: Where to Begin
It’s difficult to evaluate a source if you’re not sure where to begin. Before getting started, it’s important to establish what genre of research you need. Below is a breakdown of how sources are often separated. Once you recognize the differences in sources, it becomes easier to locate exactly what you need and evaluate whether the sources you find seem credible.
Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
Most sources fall into two categories: scholarly and popular. Scholarly sources are written by highly-qualified researchers and have a thorough publication process, which usually involves peer-reviewing and an extensive list of references at the end of the text. Scholarly sources often have a specific audience in mind, most likely other experts in the particular field of study. Examples of scholarly sources include books and academic journals written by scholars and experts.
Popular sources, on the other hand, are written by and intended for a general audience. Popular sources are not peer-reviewed, and they do not usually include a reference list. Examples of popular sources range from some books and magazines to websites and blogs.
If you’re unsure whether the source you’re reading is scholarly or popular, ask yourself these questions:
- Who is the intended audience?
- Does the author have credentials?
- Is the text peer-reviewed?
- Is there a reference list or Works Cited page?
If the source you’re examining fits the above criteria, it is most likely a scholarly source.
When searching for sources, different topics might require more scholarly sources or more popular sources. For example, if you were researching the effects of a certain treatment for cancer patients, you would most likely turn to scholarly sources written by experts. However, if you wanted to examine how different news outlets and social media sites portrayed a recent presidential debate, you would instead turn to popular sources.
Understanding the difference between a scholarly and popular source is a crucial step in evaluating credible sources.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Just as sources can be scholarly or popular, sources are also divided into primary and secondary.
A primary source is a firsthand or eyewitness account of information by an individual close to the topic. Examples of primary sources include autobiographies, personal correspondence (e.g., diary entries, letters), government documents, works of art and literature, statistics and data, and newspaper articles written by reporters close to the source. Today, even some social media posts are considered primary sources, because they are firsthand accounts of information.
A secondary source is a source that is more removed from an event, usually written after the event has happened. Examples of secondary sources include biographies, interpretation of statistics and data, and anything written after an historical event or analyzing something that already happened (e.g., examining a work of art from 100 years ago).
Depending on your research, you may need more primary or secondary sources. For example, if you wanted to trace the history of whale sightings off the coast of Alaska, you would probably need to find some historical documents that provide firsthand information on whale sightings from a few hundred years ago. However, if you wanted to look at how boating has changed whale migration patterns, you would probably rely on some secondary sources that interpret data and statistics.
When evaluating sources, being able to determine whether it’s primary or secondary is helpful as you continue in your research.
- Navigation
- Purdue OWL
- General Writing
- General Writing Introduction
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- The Writing Process
- The Writing Process Introduction
- Writing Task Resource List: What Do You Need To Write?
- Invention: Starting the Writing Process
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- Grammar Introduction
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- Visual Rhetoric Introduction
- Visual Rhetoric
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- Conducting Research
- Conducting Research Introduction
- Research Overview
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- Evaluating Sources of Information
- Searching Online
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- Writing a Literature Review
- Using Research
- Using Research Introduction
- Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
- Paraphrase Exercises
- Writing with Statistics
- Strategies for Fair Use
- Writing Scientific Abstracts Presentation
- Resources for Documenting Sources in the Disciplines
- APA Style (7th Edition)
- APA Style Introduction
- APA Overview and Workshop
- APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)
- General Format
- In-Text Citations: The Basics
- In-Text Citations: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Basic Rules
- Reference List: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
- Reference List: Books
- Reference List: Other Print Sources
- Reference List: Electronic Sources
- Reference List: Audiovisual Media
- Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources
- APA Legal References
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- Changes in the 7th Edition
- General APA FAQs
- MLA Style
- MLA Style Introduction
- MLA Overview and Workshop
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- General Format
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
- MLA Formatting Lists
- MLA Formatting Quotations
- MLA Endnotes and Footnotes
- MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format
- MLA Works Cited Page: Books
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- MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources
- MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources
- MLA Additional Resources
- MLA Abbreviations
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- Chicago Style
- CMOS Introduction
- CMOS Overview and Workshop
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- Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition
- General Format
- Books
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- CMOS Author Date Sample Paper
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- CMOS NB Classroom Poster
- IEEE Style
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- APA Style (6th Edition)
- APA Style Introduction
- APA Overview and Workshop
- APA Formatting and Style Guide (6th Edition)
- General Format
- In-Text Citations: The Basics
- In-Text Citations: Author/Authors
- Footnotes and Endnotes
- Reference List: Basic Rules
- Reference List: Author/Authors
- Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
- Reference List: Books
- Reference List: Other Print Sources
- Reference List: Electronic Sources
- Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources
- Additional Resources
- Types of APA Papers
- APA Stylistics: Avoiding Bias
- APA Stylistics: Basics
- APA Headings and Seriation
- APA PowerPoint Slide Presentation
- APA Sample Paper
- APA Tables and Figures 1
- APA Tables and Figures 2
- APA Abbreviations
- Numbers in APA
- Statistics in APA
- APA Classroom Poster
- APA Changes 6th Edition
- General APA FAQs
- Using Citation Generators Responsibly
- Using Paper Checkers Responsibly
- Style Manual Glossary
- Avoiding Plagiarism
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- Writing Across the Curriculum: An Introduction
- Creative Nonfiction in Writing Courses
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- Email Etiquette for Professors
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- Nonfiction Analysis Framework
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- Conducting an Interview Presentation
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- Teaching and Assessing Grammar
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- Conducting an Interview Presentation
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- Invention Presentation
- Preventing Plagiarism
- Preventing Plagiarism Introduction
- Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Truth or Consequences
- Handout: Truth or Consequences
- The Big Picture
- Authorship and Popular Plagiarism
- Copyright and Plagiarism
- Handout: Copyright and Plagiarism
- Collaborative Authorship
- Handout: Collaborative Authorship
- Defining Our Terms
- Class Plagiarism Policy
- Comparing Policies
- Handout: Comparing Policies
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
- Peer Summarizing
- Anonymous Paraphrasing
- Paraphrasing from Media
- Handout: Paraphrasing from Media
- Using In-text Citations
- Handout: Using In-text Citations
- Quoting Others
- Handout: Quoting Others
- Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Handout: Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Translingual Writing
- Writing in the Engineering Classroom
- Why Include Writing in Engineering Courses?
- Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Types of Writing Assignments for Engineering Courses
- Conceptual Writing Prompts
- Explain-a-Problem Writing Prompts
- How Stuff Works Writing Prompts
- Real-World Example Writing Prompts
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- Open-Ended Design Writing Prompts
- Writing Tips for Students
- Assessment and Feedback of Engineering Writing
- Research Team
- OWL Presentation Mode
- Writing Instructors
- Graduate Writing
- Introduction to Graduate Writing
- Graduate Writing Topics
- Graduate Writing Genres
- Thesis & Dissertation
- Subject-Specific Writing
- Professional, Technical Writing
- Professional, Technical Writing Introduction
- Workplace Writers
- Effective Workplace Writing
- Audience Analysis
- Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing
- Parallel Structure
- Activity and Postmortem Reports
- Tone in Business Writing
- HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents
- Basic Business Letters
- Accentuating the Positives
- Memos
- Four Point Action Closing
- Grant Writing
- Donation Request Letters
- Technical Reports & Report Abstracts
- White Papers
- Revision in Business Writing
- Business Writing for Administrative and Clerical Staff
- Writing in Literature
- Writing in Literature Introduction
- Writing About Film
- Literary Terms
- Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism
- Introduction to Literary Theory
- Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction
- Formalism
- Psychoanalytic Criticism
- Marxist Criticism
- Reader-Response Criticism
- Structuralism and Semiotics
- Postmodern Criticism
- New Historicism, Cultural Studies
- Post-Colonial Criticism
- Feminist Criticism
- Gender Studies and Queer Theory
- Ecocriticism
- Critical Race Theory
- Critical Disability Studies
- Writing About Fiction
- Writing About Literature
- Writing in Literature (Detailed Discussion)
- Writing About Poetry
- Image in Poetry
- Poetry: Close Reading
- Writing about World Literature
- Professional, Technical Writing