When you find information for your assignment you need to decide if it is good enough to use.
When you use reliable high quality information as a starting point for your work it provides you with a solid base that translates into good marks.
Learning how to evaluate information sources is a key research skill. Use this guide as a starting point to help you evaluate all types of information in any format - print or online.
Try some simple questions to differentiate between fact and fiction, theory and opinion, to judge credibility, reliability and recognise partiality or bias.
Your lecturers will ask you to use academic (scholarly) sources in your assignments. But what do they mean by "scholarly"? How can you tell if a publication is scholarly or not?
You may be asked to use peer-reviewed journals to find information for your assignment. So what is peer-review?
|
Popular |
|
Scholarly |
|
Inform / entertain / general audience |
Intention |
Present / report original research |
|
Usually colourful and attractive; lots of illustrations and photographs |
Appearance |
Contains fewer photographs. May have technical charts and graphs |
|
Short articles including generalised overview of topics Useful as introductory background reading
|
Scope |
Longer articles covering a specific topic in depth. Usually, includes abstract (summary) of the article. |
|
Non-technical. Can include definitions of terms presumed unfamiliar to the lector |
Language |
Technical language specific to the field covered by the article (jargon) |
|
Journalists with no specialist knowledge of the subject. Credentials are rarely given |
Authors |
Authors' credentials as an expert are explicitly presented, usually on the first page |
|
Background reading and interviews are the main research |
Research |
Presents the results of original research |
|
Rarely cites sources |
References |
Articles are rigorously referenced with all sources cited. Usually contains footnotes and bibliography. |
|
Articles are approved for publication by the editor |
Peer Review |
Articles approved for publication after review by the author's scholarly peers |
Adapted from James Cook University. (2011, November 3).Evaluating Sources.Retrieved November 3,2011, from JCU Library Guide:http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/content.php?pid=62895&sid=463437
