Locate Academic Sources

Consider Each Source's Credibility

Ask these questions:

Contributor/Author

·   Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?

·   Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?

·   Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?

·   Book: What have reviews said about it?

Publisher

·   What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?

·   Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?

·   Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?

Bias

·   Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?

·   Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?

·   Are there ads?

Currency

·   When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?

·   Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?

·   Does the source even have a date?

Reproduced

·   Was it reproduced? If so, from where?

·   If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?

Citations

·   Is there a bibliography or are there citations/links to related credible sources?

·   Conversely, are there credible sites or sources that refer/link to this content? In what context?

Relevance

·   Is the content relevant to your thesis statement?

·   Is the tone (academic, casual, etc.) appropriate for your project?

Accuracy

·   Is the data verifiable and accurate?

·   Are there spelling or grammatical errors? If online, are any of the links dead?

Complete

·   Is the source comprehensive?

Credible

·   Based on previous criteria, decide whether the source is credible overall.