Choosing relevant sources is crucial to assembling a useful working bibliography. Determining which of those relevant sources is also likely to be reliable is even more important. To determine reliability, ask yourself the questions below.

Who wrote it?

Consider, first, whether the author is an expert in the field. The fact that someone has a PhD in astrophysics is no indication that he or she will be an expert in military history, for example, so be careful that the area of expertise is directly relevant to the topic.

To determine the author’s area of expertise, look for the author’s professional affiliation (where he or she works or teaches). This may be indicated at the bottom of the first page of an article (often labeled “Author Affiliations”) or in an “About the Author” section in a book or on a Web site. Frequently, Googling the author will also reveal the author’s affiliation, but double-check to make sure the affiliation is current and that you have located the right person. You may also consult a biographical reference source available through a reference database at your library. Looking to see what other works the author has published, and with whom, can also help you ascertain his or her areas of expertise.

Contributors to blogs, wikis, and online discussion forums may or may not be experts in the field. Determine whether the site screens contributors, and double-check any information taken from sites for which you cannot determine the credentials of contributors.

Also consider the author’s perspective. Most writing is not neutral or objective and does not claim to be. Knowledge of the author’s perspective enables you to assess bias and determine whether the author’s perspective affects the presentation of his or her argument. To determine the author’s perspective, look for the main point and ask yourself questions like these:

How recently was it published?

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In general, especially when you are writing about science or technology, current events, or emerging trends, you should consult the most up-to-date sources available on your subject. The date of publication for articles you locate will be indicated in your search results. For a print book, look for the copyright date on the copyright page (usually on the back of the title page); for an e-book, look for the copyright date at the beginning or end of the electronic file. If your source is a Web site, consider when it, and the content within it, was last updated (often indicated at the bottom of the Web page or home page).

You may also need older, “classic” sources that establish the principles, theories, and data on which later work is based; classics may also provide a useful perspective for evaluating other works. To determine which sources are classics, note the ones that are cited most often in encyclopedia articles, lists of works cited or references, and recent works on the subject. You may also want to consult your instructor or a librarian to help you determine which works are classics in your field.

Is the source scholarly, popular, or for a trade group?

Scholarly sources (whether books or articles) are written by and for experts in a field of study, frequently professors or academic researchers. They can be challenging to read and understand because they use the language of the field, which may be unfamiliar to those outside the discipline, but they are considered reliable because the contents are written by specialists and peer-reviewed (reviewed by specialists) before publication. Scholarly sources also tend to delve deeply into a subject, often a narrowly defined subject. Scholarly sources may be published by a university press, a scholarly organization, or a commercial publisher (such as Kluwer Academic or Blackwell). Though scholarly sources may provide an overview of the subject, they generally focus on a specific issue or argument and generally contain a great deal of original research.

In contrast, popular sources are written to entertain and educate the general public. For the most part, they are written by journalists who have conducted research and interviewed experts. They may include original research, especially on current events or emerging trends. Mainly, though, they report on and summarize original research and are written for interested, nonspecialist readers.

Of course, popular sources range widely along the reliability spectrum. Highly respected newspapers and magazines, such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Economist, and Harper’s Magazine, publish original research on news and culture. These newspapers and magazines check facts carefully and are often considered appropriate sources for research projects in entry-level courses (although you should check with your instructor to find out her or his expectations). Magazines that focus on celebrity gossip, such as People and Us Weekly, are unlikely to be considered appropriate sources for a college-level research project.

Trade publications— periodicals that report on news and technical advances in a specific industry — are written for those employed in the industry and include such titles as Advertising Age, World Cement, and American Machinist. Some trade publications may be appropriate for college research projects, especially in the sciences, but keep in mind that these publications are intended for a specialist audience and may focus on marketing products to professionals in the field. Table 22.1 summarizes some of the important differences between scholarly journals, popular magazines, and trade publications.

Who published it?

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Determining who published or sponsored a source you are considering can help you gauge its reliability and ascertain the publication’s slant (or point of view). Look to see whether the source was published by a commercial publisher (such as St. Martin’s or Random House); a university press (such as the University of Nebraska Press); a corporation, an organization, or an interest group (such as the RAND Corporation, the World Wildlife Fund, or the National Restaurant Association); a government agency (such as the Internal Revenue Service or the U.S. Census Bureau); or the author on his or her own. Determining the publisher or sponsor is particularly important for material published on the Web.

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If your source is a Web page, look at the URL (uniform resource locator) to find its top-level domain, which is indicated by a suffix. Some of the most useful ones are listed here:

For the most part, .gov and .edu are the most likely to offer reliable sources of information for a college research project. However, sources with any of these domains may vary in reliability. For example, a file with a .com suffix may offer a highly reliable history of a corporation and be an appropriate source for someone writing a history of corporate America, whereas a file with a .edu suffix may have been posted by a student or by a faculty member outside his or her area of expertise.

It is essential to look at Web sites carefully. Determine who sponsors the site: Is it a business, a professional group, a private organization, an educational institution, a government agency, or an individual? Look for a link, usually at the top or the bottom of the home page, called something like “Who We Are” or “About Us.” If you cannot determine who sponsors a site, carefully double-check any information you find there.

Consider, too, checking how often the Web site has been linked to and the types of links provided by the Web site. That a site has been linked to repeatedly does not guarantee reliability, but that information may be helpful in conjunction with other recommendations in this chapter. To determine the number of times a Web page has been linked to, type link: plus the URL into a Google search box. To check the links provided, click on them and apply the criteria in this chapter.

If the source was published by a commercial publisher, check out the publisher’s Web site, and ask yourself questions like these:

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The Web sites of book publishers may offer a link to a catalog. If so, look at the works the catalog lists. Does the publisher seem to focus on a particular topic or take a particular point of view? Does the publisher generally offer popular, academic, or professional works?

If your source is a periodical (a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, or scholarly journal), consider whether it focuses on a particular topic or offers a single point of view. In addition to looking at the article you are considering and back issues of the periodical, visit the publisher’s Web site, which may help you determine topic and point of view.

How is the source written?

Most works that are published professionally (including popular newspapers and magazines, as well as scholarly journals and trade magazines) will have been edited carefully. These sources will generally avoid errors of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and have been fact-checked carefully. Web sites sponsored by professional organizations, too, will generally avoid these kinds of errors. Personal Web sites, however, are unlikely to have been professionally edited and fact-checked. If a Web site is riddled with errors, be very careful to double-check any information you take from that site.

What does the source say?

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, consider the source itself. Answering the following questions can help you determine whether the source is worth consideration: