High Quality Information Tips:

General Guidelines for Selecting Sources

• The "Five Criteria," used for evaluating WWW sites, can be used when evaluating information from any source (magazine articles, books, newspaper articles, etc.)

Print off a crib sheet (opens PDF, 21 KB)

• Have you used a variety of sources?
   
  • Compare and contrast the information you find with several authors and and array of sources such as books, Emory dissertations, journal articles, and studies.
   
  • Comparing and contrasting the information will help you in identifying any bias and enhance the validity and reliability of your research.
   
• What are the author's qualifications and affiliation (i.e., where does the author work)?

  Sometimes information on the author is available within the source itself, or you may look in a research database either like Biography & Genealogy Master Index or Biography Resource Center.

• What is the date of the publication? Is the information out-of-date for your topic?
 
• Who's published it?

  Is it a university press -- in which case the material is more likely to be scholarly -- or a well-known publisher?

• Is the information valid and well-researched?

  That is, are the author's ideas supported with research documented by footnotes, a bibliography, and/or a works cited page?