How Would This Source Contribute to Your Paper?

The evidence in a source — its ideas, facts, and expert or other opinions — can tell you about its reliability and usefulness for your project. Is its evidence complete, up-to-date, and carefully assembled? Is there enough convincing evidence to support its claims? Does visual material enhance the source, not distract from its argument or information? Does the source identify its own sources in citations and a bibliography? Even a highly reliable source needs to be relevant to your research question and your ideas about how to answer that question. An interesting fact or opinion could be just that — interesting. Instead, you need facts, expert opinions, information, and quotations that relate directly to your purpose and audience.