Introduction
While many students understand that they need to evaluate sources they find on the Web, many do not think they need to evaluate library resources. The tips below will help them evaluate books and articles they find in the Libraries. The explanation of how to evaluate viewpoint articles is useful for students mapping their controversies and using viewpoint articles extensively for their research. The tips below are useful when students are at the point where they are using evidence to build arguments.
Tips for Evaluating Books:
- Find out who the author is and their background/expertise. You will often find biographical information about the author in the book itself. You can also search the Web for information about the author.
- Find information about the publisher. Is it an academic publisher, a popular publisher or a publisher that puts out a mix of academic and popular titles? Go to the publisher’s web site to determine this information.
- Does the book have a bibliography? Footnotes or endnotes? Books with extensive bibliographies and footnotes/endnotes tend to be scholarly.
- Who is the audience? Is the book aimed at scholars or the general public?
Tips for Evaluating Journals and Magazines:
- Find out who the author is and their background/expertise. Journal articles frequently include brief biographical information about the author, including where they work. Search an article database to see what other articles they’ve written. Try searching the Web for information about the author, too.
- Find out if the publication is a journal or magazine (scholarly or popular). Search the web for the home page of the magazine or journal or search the library database Ulrich’s Periodical Directory Online and check the “document type” to find out if something is academic/scholarly, magazine or trade.
- Does the article have a bibliography? Footnotes or endnotes? Articles with extensive bibliographies and footnotes/endnotes tend to be scholarly.
- Who is the audience? Is the article aimed at scholars or the general public?
- Is it a review article or a research article? Review articles are an attempt by one or more writers to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic. Research articles publish the results of studies and experiments. They often contain a summary or “abstract,” a description of the research, the results they got and the significance of the results.
Additional Resources:
For more information about popular vs. scholarly sources, see http://www.lib.utexas.edu/students/find/popularvscholarly.html.
You may also want to point your students to the decision tree at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/students/find/evaluatebooks.html
