ENGL 102 Researching Current Issues

Authority

A good source should tell you about who wrote the content. Does the author have authority on this topic?

Questions on Authority:

• Do the authors have education? Do they have relevant credentials or an academic position?  
• Do the authors have experience? Professionals or business people are not always "academic," but they have practical knowledge.

Accuracy

By looking at the editorial oversight of a publication we can be reasonably sure of its credibility.

 Questions on Accuracy:

• Are the claims presented supported? An idea shouldn't be taken as true unless there is quality evidence to verify it.
• Did the work undergo oversight? A quality work should be reviewed by an editor, or scholars in the field ("peer reviewed").

Objectivity

Rather than taking the conclusions of the authors at face value, try and discover the context for their reasoning. Is there bias?

Questions on Objectivity:

• What is the thesis or argument of the work? Is it stated clearly or just implied through biased word choice or cherry picking evidence?
• Alternate viewpoints should be discussed in a fair manner. Emotional or condescending speech often indicates a lack of objectivity.

There are Three Categories of Sources: Academic, Popular, & Primary
 

1. Academic Sources (also called Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed)

• Books, journal articles, and book chapters written by academic experts (also called "peer-reviewed" or checked by experts). Look for length, depth, originality, academic publisher, & extensive citations.  Journal articles are marked "peer-reviewed" in Primo.  
• "Reference" sources means brief information found in encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries, etc. The library has many of these academic sources, such as The Oxford English Dictionary, The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual 5, and Credo Reference database.
• Government sources and Think tank or Non-profit research may be counted as academic by some professors, as a press or web source by others, and can be very credible. Look out for any bias--but keep in mind, academic sources can be biased or false as well.

2. Popular sources are non-academic sources like newspapers, magazines, and books you see in a bookstore.  These can be helpful to understand the latest events, ideas, and arguments on a topic. They are often very influential and written by skilled researchers or academics.
 

3. Primary sources: original historical documents, artifacts, classic literature, pop culture, etc. (documents or artifacts that you interpret and use as evidence).  Search for influential documents, letters and speeches of famous people, or the text of a law, for example.

Scripture is a primary source, as is any work by a philosopher, artist, or literary writer, or the text of a legal document like a Supreme Court decision. These sources hold authority and can be a powerful way to back up your argument. 
 

What about non-credible sources?  Examples are AI and Wikipedia.  You should not cite these sources or plagiarize from them. Their information can be false (especially AI) and the author of the information is either unknown or not human.  However, you can get ideas from these sources, like an overview or a citation, as long as you can verify the information from a good source and cite that source.  

Have you ever been doing research and been asked to pay for an article? If you haven't been going through a library, the chances are good that you have.

Part of what the Library provides for you as a student is an access to information that you can't reach or find through Google. It might seem easier to use Google, but you are really shooting yourself in the foot as a student and a scholar if you miss the wealth of information available through the Library.

Besides that, the Library uses your tuition to purchase your access to hundreds of thousands of articles, e-books, & books, so why not use it?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.   1 John 4:1 (NASB)