The Research Process

A major part of the research process includes evaluating the sources of information you locate in your searches. In other words, this step includes searching for relevant information sources and deciding whether to keep and include those sources for your research or discard them in favor of newer, more reliable, higher quality sources.

In fact, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has determined this to be a crucial stage in developing information literacy skills in their Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education: “Learners who are developing their information literate abilities critically evaluate contributions made by others in participatory information environments.”

While other schools, universities, and libraries may present slight variations or additions, generally it is agreed upon that the basic components of evaluation criteria include the following:

1. Currency- What is the publication date? Is the date relevant for the subject area/topic? Is it too old? Could a more recently published source provide new and/or different information?
2. Authority & Credentials – Who is the author and/or publisher? Is the author/publisher reputable or have an established reputation in the discipline and/or field? Does the author/publisher have specific expertise or knowledge to publish on this topic?
3. Accuracy & Reliability – Is the information or research accurate or valid? Can the same or similar information be verified by other sources?
4. Audience – Who is the intended audience for the information? Is it written for a general readership, such as an article in a newspaper or magazine (popular sources)? Is it written for people who work in a specific industry (trade publications)? Is it written for a scholarly/academic audience (scholarly sources)?
5. Bias – Does the information express a specific point of view or opinion? Is the information written by an organization that supports a stated agenda? Is it based on factual evidence from research or experiment? Does the point of view affect the accuracy or reliability of the information?

Additional Resources:

Consider the following when evaluating a source for bias:

1. Does the resource use selective facts or does it omit facts or statistics? Factual writing will often rely heavily on statistical evidence.
2. Does the resource use language that appeals only to emotion? Does the writing include many exclamation points or all caps?
3. Does the resource promote a particular political, religious, or social agenda from one point of view? Is the author or publication sponsored by an organization that promotes a specific agenda? 

When evaluating news sources, the media watchdog, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting presents questions to consider when determining if a source is being objective or biased on their How to Detect Bias In News Media page.

Be sure to determine what types of information resources are required for your research needs.  Review your assignment or research criteria:

Are you required to use original/primary research articles or is it acceptable to cite secondary articles that summarize or discuss research findings? See our Primary and Secondary Resources page.

Do you need scholarly journal articles? Must those articles be from peer-reviewed journals? See our Scholarly and Peer Reviewed Journals page.

Is it acceptable to use magazine or newspaper articles? See our page on Academic and Popular Resources. 

The following resources provide criteria and tools for evaluating the quality of a research article:

Evaluating websites is, in many ways, very similar to evaluating traditional sources of information like books, journal articles, etc. However, because anyone can create a website, you will need to be more critical in your evaluation. Additionally, there are also special considerations, such as checking the website domain.

See our Website Evaluation page for a list of questions to use for determining the quality of websites and their content. You can also view our Website Evaluation Workshop.  You may access the live workshop schedule here or view the recorded workshop below.

Predatory journals and publishers are defined by Nature as

entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.

Essentially, they exist primarily to profit off of employer requirements for scholars to publish.

Many are open-access publications and do not provide peer reviews, editing services, or publishing help for the authors. They also may not offer quality control, indexing, or licensing, which is routine for legitimate publishers. Often they will accept any article submitted and prevent you from publishing that content in a reputable journal.  

Additional characteristics of predatory journals include:

• Low article processing charges (APCs)
• Small or nonexistent editorial board
• Single publisher with hundreds of titles
• Issues published late or never
• Poor quality website
• Bogus national or international affiliation
• Excessive errors in published content
• Uses Index Copernicus Value as index factor
• Promises quick turnaround and publication
• Lack of clarity around copyright, preservation, and publishing process
• Have titles that are very similar to those of established, non-predatory journals

The following resources may be used to determine if a particular journal or publisher is predatory:

There is a lot of information on the Internet, but how can you tell the good from the bad? This workshop presents search engine tips, basics of website evaluation, and includes practice websites for you to evaluate.