SHA EAPP11: English for Academic and Professional Purposes Handout 01

Evaluating sources

While there is a wealth of information found in various sources electronically or non-electronically, you should
keep in mind that not all of these pieces of information are accurate, relevant or useful, and valid or credible.
Hence, it is very important to evaluate sources of information that you plan to include in your writing, specifically
in academic writing.

Criteria in Evaluating Sources

There is always a risk that sources taken from the Internet or anywhere else have biased or incorrect
information, so you always have to evaluate and filter your sources before using them. Not only does an
incorrect source affect your research, it also affects your credibility as a writer. The following are some of the
criteria for assessing whether a source is suitable to use for academic purposes. The criteria include relevance,
authority, currency, content, and location of sources.
• Relevance of the source to the research topic.
o How well does the source support your topic?
Key Ideas:
 You can check the title, table of contents, summary/abstract, introduction, or headings of
the text to have a sense of its content.
• Authority.
o Is the author’s name identified?
o Is the author’s background, education, or training related to the topic?
o Is he or she a professor in a reputable university?
o What are his/her publications?
o Is the contact information of the author available?
Key Ideas:
 If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it.
 For scholarly texts published by a university, you can check the university’s website to
make sure that the author is associated with the university.
 Also, legitimate academic texts must include citations as a requirement for publication.
 Citations demonstrate that the writer has thoroughly researched the topic and is not
plagiarizing the material.
• Currency.
o What is the date of the publication?
Key Ideas:
 In most fields, the data from older publications may no longer be valid. As much as
possible, the date of publication should be at most five (5) years earlier.
• Content.
o Does the author have a lot of citations in his or her text and/or bibliography or works cited
section?
o What is the tone and style of writing?
o Is the information inaccurate?
o Is the information obviously biased or prejudiced?
Key Ideas:
 The tone or the attitude of the author towards his/her subject and writing style must be
formal. There should be no words or phrases (such as colloquial words and contracted
words) that are unacceptable in English formal writing.
 You do not want to use a source that is disputable, so make sure to verify your findings
with multiple sources.
 It might be all right to use a source which only focuses on one aspect of the topic, as long
as you balance it in your research with sources from other points of view. Make sure that
the author has no personal agenda in writing the information.
• Location of sources.
o Where is the source published? Is it published digitally or in print?
Alfredo C. Marasigan Jr., LPT
LSPU-SPCC A.Y. 2019-2020
SHA EAPP11: English for Academic and Professional Purposes Handout 01

o Is it a book, an academic journal, or a reputable news source such as www.nytimes.com or

www.economist.com?
o Does it provide complete publication information such as author(s)/editor(s), title, date of
publication, and publisher?
o What is the URL of the website?
Key Ideas:
 Avoid using blogs or personal homepage and wiki sites (Wikipedia, Wikitionary,
Wikiquotes).
 If the URL includes the top-level domain .edu, then that means that it has been published
by an academic institution such as a university.
 Common URLs include .gov (government), .org (organization), .com (commercial site), and
.net (network infrastructures). In academic writing, reputable sites are those with .edu,
.gov, .net, and .org in URL.

Alfredo C. Marasigan Jr., LPT

LSPU-SPCC A.Y. 2019-2020
SHA EAPP11 Name: ________________________________________________________________
Activity 02 – Evaluating Sources Section: _____________________________ Date: ____________________________

Directions: Go to the library or go online and find two sources related to your chosen topic. Use the sheet
below.

Chosen Topic: ________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.
Type of Source:
(Book, Journal, Thesis, etc.)

Title:

Author(s):

Year of Publication:

Name of Publication:

Place of Publication:

Brief description or
summary of the source:

2.
Type of Source:
(Book, Journal, Thesis, etc.)

Title:

Author(s):

Year of Publication:

Name of Publication:

Place of Publication:

Brief description or
summary of the source: