Research Basics: Evaluating Sources

Reading Scholarly Articles

Because they are written by and for experts, scholarly articles are often challenging to read. Recognizing their common features and looking for the relationships among sources can help you to understand them and to decide whether they will be good sources for your project.

After you have explored some search results using the previous activity, choose one article and use the following questions to guide your initial reading.

Organization and Argument

1. If the article has an abstract, read it carefully and think about how it relates to your topic. What is the article’s thesis or main idea?
2. Read the introduction or introductory paragraph(s). If your article doesn't have an abstract, look for the thesis or main idea here. What does this section tell you about why the study was conducted?
3. Turn to the article's conclusion or final paragraphs to look for a discussion of the study's results and significance. How does knowing about this study help you with your own project?
4. Skim the body of the article, paying attention to any headings and figures. If the article is divided into sections, what do the section headings tell you about the content of the article?
5. In the social and physical sciences, most articles will discuss the research methods (or design). Did the researchers collect and analyze their data in a way that seems logical and ethical?

Identifying Scholarly Conversations

1. If your article has section headings, look for the literature review to learn how this study is related to previous studies on the topic. Is it testing, confirming, correcting, adding to, or clarifying previous knowledge—or some combination of those? (If your article doesn't have a literature review section, look for this information in the first few pages.)
2. Scan the list of references or works cited at the end of your article to look for additional potential sources. What are some important keywords that show up repeatedly among the titles in the list of references?
3. Name one interesting source that is quoted or cited in the article. What does your article say about this source, or why is it being cited?

Evaluating Usefulness

1. Based on your initial reading of this article, how do you think you might be able to use information from this source in your project?
2. Consider your next steps. What additional information or viewpoints do you need to find?

If this article doesn't seem useful after your initial reading, move on to a different one. If you aren't finding any useful sources, you may need to adjust your topic in response to what you're learning about the existing research.

In order to discuss a source in detail, you will need to read and understand the paper more thoroughly than you did for the previous activities. Read slowly, look up unfamiliar words, and take notes that summarize your understanding of each section as you go.

Summarizing Sources

After reading the article, write a brief summary. Show that you understand the problem or question the research was meant to address, the approaches used to gather and analyze the information, and the author's conclusions.

1. What are the main and sub-questions the study raises, and what answers does it provide?
2. Why is the topic worth studying?
3. How does the article relate to your research process? Does it confirm, challenge, or complicate your own ideas?

Critically Evaluating Sources

After you’ve established what the article is about, use the questions below to guide your critical evaluation of the article. Remember that critical isn’t a synonym for negative in this activity. You should consider the overall credibility—both strengths and shortcomings—of the study and its results.

Methods/Design

1. Does the research method match the purpose of the study? For example, if the author intended to learn about student behavior in the classroom, observing a class would be a more direct approach than interviewing teachers.
2. What biases or limitations does the author acknowledge? Note any explanations of conflicts of interest and limitations due to time, funding, availability of subjects, etc.
3. Are there any obvious flaws in the plan for the study? These could include lack of controls, extraneous variables, poorly defined terms, etc.
4. Does the article offer a model that you would want to follow in a study of your own? Does it provide you with enough information to duplicate the research if you wanted to?

Findings and Analysis

1. How does the presentation of information in graphs, tables, or narrative passages affect your understanding?
2. Is the author's interpretation logical? Has the author leapt to conclusions or neglected to address valid counterarguments?
3. How is evidence from external sources used to support the author’s claims? Is it convincing? Why or why not?
4. Is the article clear, or did problems with organization, grammar, sentence structure, or word usage distract from the message?

Discussion and Conclusions

1. Does the information presented fully support the main point/thesis/argument of the article? Are there gaps left unaddressed?
2. Do the results seem as significant as the introduction suggested they would be? Does the work advance the field of study or help solve a contemporary problem?
3. What is the reader expected to do with this information? Can further research build on it?
4. If you remain skeptical of a seemingly well-researched and well-written article, consider why. Are you aware of other valid evidence, viewpoints, or values not considered by the author?

Not sure about a news source?

Try looking up the newspaper, magazine or site in Wikipedia to learn about its mission, history, and any controversies.

Visit the library's News Sources guide to learn more.