Evaluate Your Sources
Depending on your subject, you might find yourself confronted with a dizzying array of promising sources, or you might find yourself gritting your teeth as one search after another comes up empty. In most cases, you’ll collect at least a few useful sources, from books and scholarly articles to Web sites and blogs to video clips and news articles. Be aware, however, that not all information is created equal, and that some sources will be more appropriate for an academic essay than others. Before you decide to use a source, assess its credibility and usefulness for your purposes. To evaluate print and electronic sources for an informative essay, focus in particular on the following:
- Relevance. Be sure the information in a source will help you accomplish your purposes as a writer. It should address your subject directly, and it should help you learn more about aspects of the subject that are important to you. Your readers will also want to find information that meets their needs. If they know little about your subject, you’ll need to provide them with information that will help them understand it. If they are already familiar with the subject, you’ll want to locate information that will allow them to learn more about it.
- Evidence. Reliable sources provide details and supporting information to back up a writer’s statements and assertions. Be wary of any source that makes sweeping generalizations without providing evidence.
- Authority. Look for sources written by experts on your subject. Scholarly sources (such as peer-reviewed journal articles) are usually more reliable than popular ones (such as general-interest magazines) because they go through an extensive peer-review process before being published. On the Web, information found on government (.gov), educational (.edu), and nonprofit (.org) domains is likely to be more reliable than information provided on business (.com) sites and personal pages.
- Timeliness. In most cases, the more recently a source was published or updated, the more pertinent the information will be for your purpose.
Need a refresher on evaluating sources? See Chapter 3.