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Authority

  • Who’s the writer?
  • What else has got the author written?
  • By which communities and contexts will the author have expertise?
    • Will the author represent a specific group of world views?
    • Will they represent specific gender, sexual, racial, political, social and/or cultural orientations?
    • Will they privilege some causes of authority over others?
    • Have they got a proper role inside a particular institution (e.g. a professor at Oxford)?

Purpose

  • Why was this source produced?
    • Is there a fiscal value for that author or writer?
    • Could it be an academic resource? Persuasive?
      • What (research) questions will it make an effort to answer?
      • Will it make an effort to be objective?
    • Will it fill every other personal, professional, or societal needs?
  • Who’s the intended audience?
    • Will it be for scholars?
    • Will it be for an over-all audience?

Publication & format

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  • Where could it have been printed?
  • Could it have been printed inside a scholarly publication, just like an journal?
    • Who had been the writer? Could it have been a college press?
    • Could it have been formally peer-reviewed?​
  • Will the publication possess a particular editorial position?
    • Could it be generally regarded as a conservative or progressive outlet?
    • May be the publication sponsored by others or organizations? Perform the sponsors have particular biases?
  • Have there been any apparent barriers to publication?
    • Could it have been self-printed?
    • Have there been outdoors editors or reviewers?
  • Where, geographically, could it have been initially printed, as well as in what language?
  • With what medium?
    • Could it have been printed online or perhaps in print? Both?
    • Could it be your blog publish? A YouTube video? A TV episode? Articles from the print magazine?
      • Exactly what does the medium let you know about the intended audience?
      • Exactly what does the medium let you know about the objective of the piece?

Relevance

  • How’s it highly relevant to your quest?
    • Will it evaluate the main sources that you are researching?
    • Will it cover the authors or people who you are researching, but different primary texts?
    • Can you employ the authors’ frameworks of research for your own research?
  • What’s the scope of coverage?
    • Could it be an over-all overview or perhaps an in-depth analysis?
    • Will the scope suit your own information needs?
    • It’s time period and geographic region highly relevant to your quest?

Date of publication

  • Just when was the origin first printed?
  • What version or edition from the source are you currently talking to?
    • Exist variations in editions, for example new introductions or footnotes?
    • When the publication is online, just when was it last updated?
  • What’s altered inside your field of study because the publication date?
  • What are the printed reviews, responses or rebuttals?

Documentation

  • Did they cite their sources?
    • Otherwise, have you got every other way to verify the longevity of their claims?
  • That do they cite?
    • May be the author associated with the authors they are citing?
    • Would be the reported authors a part of a specific academic movement or way of thinking?
  • Look carefully in the quotes and paraphrases using their company sources:
    • Did they appropriately represent the context of the reported sources?
    • Did they ignore any important components using their reported sources?
    • Could they be cherry-picking details to aid their very own arguments?
    • Did they appropriately cite ideas which were not their very own?

Resourse: http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/
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How to Evaluate Sources