Academic research is based on the cumulative production of knowledge, meaning that when a researcher writes a paper, their work builds on that which has been completed before. This process of cumulation is what makes scholarly research reliable, and it also helps prevent each researcher from having to reinvent the wheel. However, not all sources are equally valuable to the academic researcher. This guide will help you evaluate the sources you come across in the research process to determine their utility for your work. Remember that even experienced researchers sometimes come across sources which are difficult to evaluate; it is always better to check with me if you find something that seems useful but is of questionnable validity.

 
Choosing good sources:
The best sources for scholarly research are those written by experts in the feild, published by reputable scholarly presses, reviewed by the author's professional peers, and written according to the generally accepted rules of scholarly research. This means books published by scholarly presses and journal articles in peer reviewed journals (NOT magazines) are the best sources for research. If you are looking for statistics, government websites and those run by colleges or universities are also often reliable.

Some sources are not reliable at all and with few exceptions (such as use to document particular political or ideological beleifs among certain groups) should never be used in scholarly research. These include webpages without clear attribution of authorship or that do not adhere to scholarly standards and propoganda or ideological tracts, whether published on the web or in paper. Again, ask if you have any questions.

Questions to ask when evaluating sources:

1. Who is the author?
Authors with professional or academic credentials are the most reliable. Look for an about-the-author section towards the end of the text and check to see if the author's credentials are in the discipline in which he or she is writing. Don't be fooled by degrees listed after the author's name: Ph.D., M.D., J.D. etc. only mean the author earned a degree in one specific feild and do not mean the author is an expert on everything. Authors who are currently affiliated with educational institutions and who are writing in their specialty area are the most reliable sources.

2. Who is the publisher?
For a book or a journal, check to see who published the text. If the text was published by a university press, it is quite likely to be reliable. There are many other reputable publishers: just a few examples are Blackwell, Springer, Routledge, the Free Press, and Sage Publications. Reuptable academic publishers (whether of books or journals) send texts to peer reviewers prior to publication to ensure that each work meets scholarly standards. For a website, try to determine what individual or organization runs the website. Some hints: websites that end in .com and .net are commercial websites; those that end in .org are generally run by not-for-profit organizations, those that end in .edu are run by educational institutions, and those that end in .gov are run by the government. Those websites which are most reliable are those which clearly state the organization responsible for the site's content. Remember that while educational institutions are often the source of the most reliable websites, many colleges and universities allow individual students and faculty to publish their own personal webpages and these are less reliable.

3. When was the source created?
In some cases, older sources are great--if you are researching the women's suffrage movement, for instance, work produced 50 years ago may be just as useful as work produced today. But if you are researching something which has happened recently or which is continuing to occur, make sure you are using an up-to-date source. Additionally, check the copyright date or "last update" date on websites. Those which are continually updated may be (though are not always) more reliable.

4. Is the source obviously biased?
This one takes a bit more analytical work on your part. While sources written from a particular political or ideological perspective may be useful, they must be taken as examples of these perspectives and not as factual evidence about the world. As you read each source, be sure to note whether or not the author seems to be trying to persuade you to agree with a political or ideological position, particularly if he or she does so without clear, unbiased empirical evidence.

5. Does the source adhere to commonly accepted scholarly standards?
In other words, sources that follow the general rules of scholarly research will be better sources. You should check if your sources cite the work of other scholars, clearly state where their evidence comes from, and provide complete bibliographies.

What about general knowledge?
Most of us grew up treating the encyclopedia as a standard source for "general knowledge" type questions. Encyclopedias are not the best sources for scholarly research, but there may be times when you wish to consult one (and in the category of encyclopedias I include websites like Wikipedia). The following are some guidelines about when and how the use of encyclopedias in scholarly research is appropriate (with credit to Alan Liu and Kairosnews for their work in this area).

Encyclopedia articles can be used to support the presentation of minor, non-controversial points. MINOR POINTS are those which are incidental to your main argument, though they may provide background or other information which helps the writer or the reader move forward. NON-CONTROVERSIAL means that the point is not under debate in mainstream political, scholarly, or social circles. In using Wikipedia in particular, articles which are frequently changed are considered controversial and should be avoided. Those articles which are longer, more detailed, and more complete are also more reliable--articles about popular culture or technology tend to be the most useful and reliable. To help make this more comprehensible, consider any Wikipedia article of your choice in light of the source guidelines above.

Remember that when citing an encyclopedia article (as with all sources) it is vital to provide the date of publication. When using any web sources, you must provide the date of access, as the site can frequently change. For Wikipedia in particular, you should provide the exact time of access, as the Wikipedia history function will then allow your reader to check the page as it was when you saw it.

While there are many problems with using Wikipedia in scholarly research, the fact that it is open-source and available for editing may make it a better source than some other websites. In particular, I would caution you away from such sites as Epinions.com, About.com, or other sites where users can post comments that are not subject to revision or review. Additionally, if you find information during your research process that is missing from the relevant Wikipedia article, I encourage you to update it yourself so it will be more useful for future researchers.