Evaluating Sources - Handout

Evaluate Your Sources

Take time to consider how the articles and websites you find will help you explore your interests and questions.
Use a mix of popular and scholarly articles, books, and websites.
Seek a variety of points of view from multiple sources.

Peer Review in 3 Minutes

How do articles get peer reviewed?
What role does peer review play in scholarly research and publication?
This video will explain.
This video is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license.
License, credits, and contact information can be found here: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/peerreview/

Scholarly Journals

Popular Magazines

Bibliographies or references included

Usually DO NOT have bibliographies

Authors are experts, often professors at universities or research centers

Authors are often journalists or generalists

Contain articles approved by author's peers (peer reviewed) or refereed

Contain articles chosen by editors who are employed by the magazine or people within a certain trade field

Audience is the scholarly reader, such as professors, researchers, students

Audience is the general population

Standardized formats are usually followed (APA, MLA, etc.)

Various formats which are often unstructured

Written in the jargon of the field

Written for anyone to understand

Any illustrations support the text (maps, tables, photos)

Often illustrated for market appeal

Popular and Scholarly sources are both valuable sources.
Scholarly Sources present the ideas of experts on a topic - Professors, Researchers etc.
Popular Sources can include the points of view of everyday people, who may not have access to academic networks.
Use both popular and scholarly sources to get multiple points of view.