Subject Guides
Once you have found some interesting sources to use in your research, it's important that you evaluate each of them. This means deciding whether they are trustworthy, reliable and of good enough quality for an academic assignment.
The questions below will help you to determine whether a source should be considered trustworthy.
Who are the authors? Individuals? Experts? Companies?
Who published it?
Look out for bias and opinion pieces e.g. a pharmaceutical company publishing research that says their new drug is effective.
When was it published? Recent? Dated?
On the whole you will need the most current information to answer your question.
How was the research conducted?
Is it representative?
How can you use it to answer your need?
If it’s a piece of research, how did they conduct it? Were the method and sample size appropriate and representative?
Will it support points you are making?
What is the information?
Is it useful to your project?
It needs to relate to your question – try to keep a focus on the question not just the general topic.
Where did you find the information: website, blog, book, journal or database?
Where was the research conducted?
Always try to get your information from reputable sources e.g. textbooks, journals. Research conduced in other countries may not be relevant.
Why was it written?
What are the motivations behind it?
Look out for bias – see also ‘Who?’