Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Evaluate sources for relevance and reliability
Finding useful sources
Writing your paper

You will probably find more sources than you can use. If so, skim them to evaluate their relevance and reliability.

4.4.1 Evaluate the Relevance of Sources

Once you decide that a source might be relevant, skim it systematically. Look for signs that it includes (1) data you can use as evidence, (2) discussions of matters you plan to discuss, (3) arguments that show you how others are thinking about your question. If your source is an article, do this:

✵ Read its abstract, if any.

✵ Skim the last two or three paragraphs of the introduction (or other opening section). If a section is called “Conclusion,” skim all of it; if not, skim the last three paragraphs.

✵ Skim the first paragraph or two after each subhead, if any.

If your source is a book, do this:

✵ Skim its index for names or keywords related to your question or its answers; then skim those pages.

✵ Skim its introduction and last chapter, especially their last page or two.

✵ If the source is a collection of articles, skim the editor's introduction.

✵ Do the same for chapters that look relevant.

✵ If your source is online, do this:

✵ If it looks like a printed article, evaluate it as you would a journal article.

✵ Skim any section labeled “Introduction,” “Overview,” “Summary,” or the like. If there is none, look for a link labeled “About the Site” or something similar.

✵ If the site has a site map or index, skim it for keywords.

✵ If the site has a “search” resource, type in keywords.

4.4.2 Evaluate the Reliability of Your Sources

Your evidence will not be persuasive if it comes from a source your readers don't trust. You can't judge a source until you read it, but there are signs of reliability.

4.4.2.1 Library-Quality Sources

The first question is whether a source is library quality. For a source to be library quality, you do not have to find it in an actual library. But it does have to be provided by someone who subjects it to the same kind of screening that libraries give to their materials. Libraries are so important to researchers not just because they will lend you books and other sources, but because those materials are chosen by trained librarians who are specialists in judging their value and quality. You cannot be certain that everything in a library is a reliable source, but that is a good start.

To determine whether a source is of library quality because it has been screened by experts, look for these signs:

✵ It is part of a library's collection of physical books, articles, recordings, and other materials.

✵ It is provided as part of a library's online resources, including article data-bases, electronic books, electronic archives, and so on.

✵ It is provided by an online scholarly journal associated with a university or academic publisher.

✵ It is provided online by a reputable scholarly organization, such as the Rhetoric Society of America (research and other sources on rhetoric), the ARTFL Project (works by French authors), or the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (religion and social issues).

For advanced researchers, checking for library quality is just a first step in evaluating sources (see 4.4.2.3). But for your purposes, it is probably enough. Ask your teacher whether you have to screen library-quality sources for additional signs of reliability.

4.4.2.2 Evaluate the Reliability of Other Online Sources

When you search online, you will encounter hundreds of sites whose material does not appear to be of library quality. Evaluate each one carefully. The number of reliable online sources grows every day, but they are still islands in a swamp of misinformation.

Before you use online data that is not from a library-quality source, look for these signs of reliability:

1. The site is sponsored by a reputable organization. Some sites supported by individuals are reliable; most are not.2 It is related to a reliable publisher or professional journal.

2. It is not an advocacy site. It is not sponsored by an organization with a political or commercial agenda, and it avoids one-sided advocacy on a contested social issue.

3. It does not make wild claims, attack other researchers, use abusive language, or make errors of spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

4. It says who is responsible for the site and when it was updated. If it has no date, be cautious.

5. It is not too glossy. When a site has more decorative graphics than words, its designers may care more about drawing you in than about presenting reliable information. If a site has almost no graphics, that may be a sign of neglect, but it might also indicate that its creator cares more about the quality of the words than the look of the page.

Trust a site only if careful readers would trust those who maintain it. If you don't know who maintains it, be skeptical.

4.4.2.3 Evaluate the Reliability of Library-Quality Sources

In most cases, beginning researchers are not expected to screen their sources as carefully as a professional must: library quality is usually enough. But when you do have to be more demanding, look for these additional signs of reliability:

1. The author is a reputable scholar. Most publications cite an author's academic credentials; you can find more with a search engine.

2. The source is current. How quickly a source goes out-of-date varies by subject, so check with someone who knows the field. For articles in the social sciences, more than ten years pushes the limit. For books, figure fifteen or so. Publications in the humanities have a longer shelf life.

3. The source is published by a reputable press. You can trust most university presses, especially at well-known schools. You can trust some commercial presses in some fields, such as Norton in literature, Ablex in sciences, or West in the law. Be skeptical of a commercial book that makes sensational claims, even if its author has a PhD.

4. The article was peer-reviewed. Most scholarly journals, both print and online, publish an article only after it has been peer-reviewed by experts. Few popular magazines do that. If an article hasn't been peer-reviewed, use it cautiously.

Those signs don't guarantee that a source is reliable, but they should give you some confidence in it. If you can't find reliable sources, admit the limits of the ones you have.