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Get help referencing and citing sources, finding articles and books, identifying academic sources, and more!
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The Internet and the Library make it is easy to find information, but it is more difficult to identify sources you can rely on. Evaluate your sources carefully to ensure you've selected material that is trustworthy and appropriate for your assignnment. Use this checklist to help you evaluate your sources:
Scholarly Academic Publication |
Popular Publications |
|
Author |
Written by an expert in the field of study (an academic or trained specialist) | Written by those without expertise in the field of study (a member of the public or journalist) or no author is stated |
Date |
Date of publication is provided | Date of publication is often not provided for popular Web resources |
Publisher |
Colleges/Universities, professional associations, scholarly publishers + research institutes | Commercial for-profit publishers or members of the public |
Purpose |
To report on experiments, theories, case studies + other research | To sell advertised products, inform, promote a point of view or entertain |
Editing |
Peer review by experts in the field | Review by a generalist (a magazine editor) or no review |
Documentation |
Sources used in the author's research are cited in a reference list or footnotes | Sources are rarely cited or are inaccurate |
Other |
Accurate spelling + grammar, few advertisements, logical + well written |
Spelling + grammar errors may occur, many advertisements, poor or variable writing quality |
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(Modified, original source UBC Library) |
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For more information:
Authority |
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Accuracy |
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Purpose |
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Currency |
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Relevance |
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Wikipedia etc. |
 Wikipedia can be great to find background information!  Wikipedia has an absence of accountability, people do not need to verify the truthfulness of the information
"You see, any user can change any entry, and if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true." |
Examples |
Internet |
Library Databases |
| Search engines, such as Google, websites | CINAHL Complete, PsycINFO | |
Access |
Any computer with Internet connection | On-campus or off-campus with login |
Cost |
Free | Free to students, but Library pays subscription & licensing fees |
Content by |
Anyone | Scholars, professionals, experts, journalists |
Content |
Anything and everything, pictures, personal opinions, blogs, articles, etc. Biased or often misleading to change visitors' opinion of site or organization. | Full-text articles from reputable publications, often peer reviewed content. Full-text books and book chapters. References or links for related information. |
Appearance |
Personal pages, corporate pages, pages that look reliable but have no affiliation with reputable source, visually appealing pages to distract from content. | Little or no advertising, range of limiters available. Affiliated with reputable source, organization, individual or company. Contact information available. |
Publication |
Anytime by anyone, irregular schedule. |
Typically published daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually. Journal/periodical issues usually identified by volume and/or issue number. |
CCCC Library (Author). Evaluating information. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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