**KEY IDEAS**

INTRODUCTION TO REFERENCING
 If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it.
A. EVALUATING SOURCES  If the author is claimed to be affiliated with a university, you can check the
university’s website to verify the information.
 Criteria in Evaluating Sources  Publications from professors are usually peer-reviewed and have undergone a
strenuous publication process and are therefore reliable.
There is always a risk that the sources taken from the internet or anywhere else have  Legitimate academic texts must include citations as a requirement for publication.
biased or incorrect information, so you always have to filter and evaluate your sources Citations demonstrate that the writer has thoroughly researched the topic and is not
before using them. Not only does an incorrect source affect your research; it also affects plagiarizing the material.
your credibility as a writer.
Check for relevance: Which of the following texts would you use for a research
The following are some of the criteria for assessing whether a source is suitable to use regarding the Holocaust?
for academic purposes or not. The criteria include: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY, CURRENCY, a. Dark Shadows of the Past: A Comparative Study on the Holocaust
CONTENTS, AND LOCATION OF PURPOSES. and the Death March, authored by Mao Guevarra, Ph.D. in History
b. Analyzing Nazism and Extremist Supremacy, authored by Adolf
Mussolini, RMD
RELEVANCE OF THE SOURCE TO THE RESEARCH TOPIC

 How well does the source support your topic? CURRENCY/ DATE OF PUBLICATION
Key Idea:  What is the date of Publication?

 You can check the title, table of contents, summary/abstract, introduction, or
headings of the text to have a sense of its content.
Check for relevance: Which of the sources would you pick if you are doing a
research on the Law of Supply and Demand?
a. An Introduction to Theories on Economics
b. How to Invest and Get Rich
c. 105 Habits of Highly Effective Businessmen
Authority/ Author’s Qualifications
 Is the author’s name identified?
 Is the author’s background, education, or training related to the topic?
 Is he/she a professor in a reputable university?
 What are his/her publications?
 Is the contact information of the author available?
Key Idea:
 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 years earlier.
Check for currency: Which material will you use for a research on
electromagnetism?
a. Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism, 1853
b. Basics of Electromagnetism, 2019
c. The Foundation of Studies in Electromagnetism, 1990
d. Fundamentals of Physics, 2013
CONTENTS/DATE OF PUBLICATION
 Does the author have many citations in his/her text and/or a bibliography or works
cited section?
  What is the tone and style of writing?  Google Scholar and Directory of Open Access Journals are two free web search
 Is the information inaccurate? engines that provide free full text scholarly articles across disciplines.
 Is the information obviously biased or prejudiced?  Avoid using blogs or personal homepages and wiki sites (e.g., Wikipedia, Wiktionary,
Wikiquotes)
Key Ideas:  If the URL includes the top-level domain .edu, then that means it has been published
 The tone or the attitude of the author toward his/her subject and writing style must by an academic inctitution such as a university.
be formal. There should be no informal words or phrases- the colloquial and the  Common URLs include .gov (government), .org (organization), .com (commercial
contracted. sites), and .net (network infrastructures). In academic writing, sites
 You do not want to use a source that is disputable, so make sure to verify your with .edu, .gov, .org, and .net in their URL are often considered reputable. However,
findings with multiple sources. it is still best to double check the publisher of each site.
 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 C.A.C.A.O METHOD
sure that the author has no personal agenda in writing the information.
Check for accuracy: which of these sources would you use for a research on EVALUATION OF WEB DOCUMENTS HOW TO INTERPRET THE BASICS
Marxism?
a. The Dark Side of Marxism, by Hen Sy
b. Karl Marx and the Fundamentals of Marxism, authored by Fred Angle COVERAGE
c. Effects of Marxism in an Industrialized World, authored by Rick Carlos COVERAGE OF WEB DOCUMENTS
 If the page requires a special
 Are the links (if any) evaluated software to view the
and do they complement the information, how much are you
LOCATION OF SOURCES
documents’ theme? missing if you don’t have the
 Is it all images or a balance of software?
 Where is the source published? Is it published digitally or in print?
text and images?  Is it free or is there a fee to
 Is the source found in a research database or search engine?
 Is the information presented obtain the information?
 Is it a book, an academic journal, or a reputable news source such as
cited correctly?  Is there an option for text only,
www.nytimes.com or www.economist.com?
frames, or a suggested browser
 Does it provide complete publication information such as editor/s or author/s, title, for better viewing?
date of publication and publisher?
 What is the URL of the website? ACCURACY OF WEB DOCUMENTS ACCURACY

 Who wrote the page and can  Make sure the author provides
you contact him or her? an email address or a contact
Key Ideas:
 Is this person qualified to write address/phone number.
 Most of the articles found in research databases such as EBSCOhost, ProQuest,
this document?  Know the distinction between
ScienceDirect, or JSTOR are peer reviewed unlike many of the articles found through
 Where does the information an author and a webmaster.
search engines which have not gone through quality control. However, access to
come from?  Make sure to have a reliable
research databases is often not for free.
 Is the information supported source.
by evidence?
  Has the information been
reviewed or referred?
 Can you verify the information
in another source?
CURRENCY OF WEB DOCUMENTS
CURRENCY
 How recent is the information?
 How recently has the source
been updated?
 Is it current enough for your
topic?
 How up-to-date are the links (if
any)?
AUTHORITY OF WEB DOCUMENTS
 Who published the document
and is it separate from the
AUTHORITY
webmaster?
 Check the domain of the
document. What institution
publishes this document? Is it
reputable?
 Does the publisher list her/his
qualifications? What are the
publisher’s credentials?
 Is the page editable like a
Wikipedia page?
OBJECTIVITY OF WEB DOCUMENTS
 What goals/objectives does
this page meet? OBJECTIVITY
 How detailed is the
information?  Determine if the page is a mask
 What opinions (if any) are for advertising; if so, its
expressed by the author? information might be biased.
 How many dead links are on
 What is the purpose of the  View any web page as you
the page?
information? would an infomercial on
 Are the links current or
 Are the contents trying to television. Ask yourself: why
updated regularly?
entertain, inform, persuade, was this written and for whom?
 Is the information on the page
advertise, or teach?
outdated?
 Is the creator/author trying to
sell you something?
SUMMARY
 Coverage. If you can view the information properly- if it is not limited to
fees, browser, technology, or software requirement…
 Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the
 What are the authors’ listed
page and provides a way of contacting him or her…
credentials?
 Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the
 Where is the document
page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date…
published? Check the website’s
 Authority. If your lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred
URL domain.
(.edu, .gov, .org, or .net)
 Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited
advertising and it is objective in presenting the information…
You may have a webpage that could be of value to your research!
Sources: Kapoun, J. (1998). Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library instruction. College
Research and Libraries News, 59, 522-523.
McKillop Library. (2018). Research from start to finish: Evaluating websites. Retrieved from
http://salve.libguides.com/researchguide/evaluatewebsites