Evaluating Your Sources
Not everything you find will be of high quality or appropriate to your topic. You need to carefully evaluate your sources before incorporating them into your research. Ask yourself some questions:
Is the article peer reviewed? (see section on Peer Review for help to determine this)
What is the authority of the author and source? Is the author an expert? Does s/he work for a reputable university or organization?
Are there biases in the publication?
Judge the relevance to your subject and the discipline.
Is the information current? Does your subject require it to be?
Other things that may be important:
Does the source have a bibliography? This can lead you to other sources.
What other terminology is being used either by the author or by the database? Keep an eye out for other words you can use in your search statements.
Does the OSU Libraries own the journal (either in print or electronically)? If we don't own it, it will take more time to get your hands on the source.
Identifying Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Sources
Using research that has been evaluated by other experts in the field (peer reviewed or refereed) is an efficient way of finding research of value. Some ways to identify if the research is peer-reviewed:
- Use the database: some databases consist entirely (or almost entirely) of peer-reviewed literature (for example: Sociological Abstracts, Abstracts in Anthropology, ERIC, PsycInfo)
- Many databases allow you to LIMIT your search to peer-reviewed or scholarly literature (the EBSCOhost databases like Academic Search Premier for example)
- Check journal's entry in Ulrich's (reference books located at the Reference Desk)
- Check the journal's editorial policy statement for an explicit statement (generally small print at the front of the issue, or visit the journal's web page). Look for a list of editors, which can be an implicit indication of peer review.
- Ask a librarian for assistance
Other ways to identify scholarly articles:
- Look for common characteristics of scholarly works, such as
- easily identifiable author names and affiliations
- an abstract, introduction, methodology, conclusions
- citation of others' works
- a complete list of references
- Determine if article is written by a scholar in the field for other researchers (rather than the general public)
The University of Arizona Library has a web page and tutorial on identifying the differenced between popular and scholarly articles at http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/scholarly/guide.html
Web Evaluation
In the past many professers told students not to use material found on the internet in their research. This is becoming more difficult as the web is increasingly used to disseminate scholarly research. So, as with books and journal articles it is vitally important to evaluate web sites.
Most of the evaluation tools for other resources apply to web resources as well. But there are more things you should pay attention to and techniques you can use.
First principle is: ANYONE can put ANYTHING online and make it look good! Therefore checking the Authority of the author/ sponsor is key. Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage complete the criteria.
An excellent Evaluation Criteria checklist can be found at the New Mexico State University Library website, http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html, created by librarian Susan Beck. This is part of her tutorial The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources (1997) http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html
Instructor information
- Richard Settersten
- Office:
015 Milam Hall - Contact:
Finding Articles
The primary tool for discovering journal articles for your research are the library databases. General databases such as Academic Search Premier can be very useful, particularly in the initial stages of your searches, for they contain a great many full-text journals covering many different subjects. There are also more specialized databases for particular aspects of HDFS such as aging, health, and psychology. Here are a few suggestions out of the many that we have.
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Academic Search Premier
Provides full text for nearly 4,600 scholarly publications, including full text for more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study.
Coverage Dates: 1975 - present -
Ageline (AARP)
Abstracts the literature of social gerontology as well as aging-related research from psychology, sociology, social work, economics, public policy, and the health sciences.
Coverage Dates: 1978 -
Health Source
Includes two editions: the Nursing Academic Edition and the Consumer Edition.
Coverage Dates: 1975 - present -
Alternative Press Index
Looking for ideas outside the mainstream? This index contains nearly 290 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines that report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political and social change. Includes selected abstracts from scholarly publications. Updated quarterly by the Alternative Press Center. (Index only)
Coverage Dates: 1991 - present -
PsycInfo (via PsycNET)
Index to journal articles, series and books for all areas of psychology including applied, clinical, developmental, educational, general, human experimental, general, physiological, social and sport psychology, and treatment and prevention. Abstracts and index.
Coverage Dates: 1887 -
Sociological Abstracts
Index to articles from journals in sociology, social work and other social sciences. Abstracts and index.
Coverage Dates: 1963 - present -
Social Services Abstracts
Provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development.
Coverage Dates: 1980 - present
Using Google Scholar
Here is a shortcut to another source for scholarly books and articles. Set Google Scholar Preferences to show library access links for OSU. ("Get This Item at OSU")
Finding Books
Use online catalogs to find books (as well as journals, multimedia, maps, and other library materials) at OSU & elsewhere.
1. Start with OSU Libraries Catalog: searches for books located at Valley Library and OSU's other libraries.
2. Next try Summit Catalog: searches our partner libraries in Oregon & Washington (indicated as Held by: Summit). Also searches other library holdings throughout the world (indicated as Held by: WorldCat Libraries). If OSU does not have the item and it is located in a Summit library, you may request it be delivered to OSU (takes about 3 business days).
3. Finally, If Summit doesn't have it we'll find a library that does-just click the Request from Interlibrary Loan button.
Search tip: Summit lets you access some journal articles. But mostly you will need to find these in databases.
Other Options: Google Book Search searches within indexes and texts of books. How much of the book you see depends on the copyright status, and on how much of their copyrighted work that authors and publishers who participate in the program will allow. For many items you can click on "Find this book in a library" to see if OSU owns a copy.This is not a complete catalog, so please check OSU and Summit catalogs, too.
Smart searching
When searching in catalogs and databases:
- Be creative in the words you use; if one doesn't work, try something else
- Begin with keywords, and use the subjects found in the articles that come up to find more information
- Use quotation marks around phrases
- Use catalog and database features to limit by date, language, type of article, etc.
For further assistance...
Librarians love questions! There are many ways to get help with your research. We are happy to help you in the way you're most comfortable with:
Phone, email, IM, or make an appointment to see the subject librarian. My IM box is on the left of the page, along with my email and phone number. Contact me with your more challenging problems!
For more general questions (Or if Valery is unavailable) contact the Reference Desk by phone, IM, email, or in person. Chat is available 24/7 through the L-Net statewide online service--always a librarian available to help you! Click the "ask a librarian" chat box on the library's main page, or visit http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/reference/ for more ways of contacting us.
Last Update: September 21, 2009 14:13 | Tagged with: critical thinking family sciences evaluating resources
