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Articles | Websites | Primary Resources | Secondary Resources
It is easy to find some information on your topic, but how can you tell if the information is reliable? Just because it is in print does not mean that it is true or correct.
Following are some basic guidelines to use to evaluate the quality of your material:
- Who is the author?
Look to see if they have listed their credentials. If the material was written by someone who is an expert in the field, rather than a journalist, the material is more likely to be scholarly.
- Has the author done their research and included references to other material and/or a bibliography?
- Who is the publisher?
- When was it published?
Depending on your subject area, older material may be out of date and inappropriate.
- What audience was it written for?
Material written for the general public is not as scholarly as that written for people specializing in a specific field of study or practice.
- Is the information biased?
See GALILEO's Online Learning Center for more detailed information on evaluating sources.
Articles
Most of the material available through GALILEO is from reliable sources. However, some of the articles are more scholarly than others.
Use our guide to popular magazines vs. scholarly journals to understand the difference. Also, see GALILEO's guide to scholarly or peer-reviewed articles.
Websites
One important thing to note about websites is that anyone with access to a web server can set one up, regardless of how much they know about the material they put on their website.
Look into certain details like WHO made the site and whether or not they list their credentials, how CURRENT the site is, and WHY they made the site in the first place. Be aware that websites may be trying to sell you something, or they may be biased in other ways.
See our guide to evaluating websites for a checklist of what to look for when evaluating a website.
Identifying Primary Resources
A primary source is original material, or material that describes an event by someone who witnessed it.
Primary sources can include diaries, memoirs and other firsthand accounts. Original works such as novels and poems are also primary sources. Scientific reports of original research are primary sources.
Anything may or may not be a primary source, depending upon the subject being described and who is describing it.
Identifying Secondary Sources
A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes a document, event, or other type of primary source. It is not a firsthand account and is usually written by someone who was not involved in the event being described. Examples of secondary sources are scholarly criticism, textbooks, and encyclopedias.
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