This document provides guidelines for evaluating sources for academic assignments. It emphasizes the importance of the author's credentials, the publication's credibility, objectivity, timeliness, and the overall purpose of the information. Additionally, it offers considerations specific to evaluating websites and recommends various online resources for further learning on the topic.

1. 1La Trobe University
Evaluating Sources
Image by Rochester Institute of Technology http://library.rit.edu/liv/6-1 CC BY 3.0 AU
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/
Use these slides to learn how to:
 Identify what to look for when
selecting resources
 Judge if information will be
relevant for your assignments
 Recognise if a source is
credible
 Find more information

2. 2La Trobe University
What to look for
1. Who is the publisher? 2. Who is the author?
Are they a respected source?
Ideally, try to use the best
publishers for your subject
area.
Does the information come
from an author or an
organisation that has
authority to speak on the
topic?
A newspaper or magazine
written for the general public
has less credibility than a
journal written for scholars
and experts.
Do they cite their
credentials? Credible authors
usually state their
qualifications and where
they work.
Does the publisher have a
reputation for scholarly or
popular publishing? Popular
publishing is not necessarily
bad, but the sources will not
be as good as scholarly
sources.
Authors who are experts
have more credibility than
journalists, general writers or
anonymous authors.

3. 3La Trobe University
What to look for
3. What evidence does the
author use to back up their
arguments?
4. Is the information
objective?
What type of research have
they performed or cited?
Is the information presented
with a bias?
/
Has the information been
peer-reviewed? This is when
other experts in the same
field have said this research
is good and worth
publishing.
You can still use sources that
have a specific perspective,
but be aware of both sides of
the argument.
Be sure there is enough
documentation to help you
decide whether the source is
reliable. Look for footnotes,
a bibliography, credits or
quotations.
How valid are the author’s
conclusions? Are they based
on personal opinion,
interviews, research or
experience?

4. 4La Trobe University
What to look for
5. Timeliness 6. Point of view
When was the information
created or published? There
should always be a date.
What is the purpose of the
information? Is it informative
or trying to persuade people?
Are all of the facts being
presented?
Is timeliness important for
your topic? Does the research
need to have been published
recently?
Has information been
deliberately left out? Authors
may do this to suit their
argument, in which case they
are not a reliable source.
Some information will be
valid over time, while other
information may become
obsolete or discredited by
new research.
What kind of language is
being used? The writing
should be objective, not
emotionally charged or
generalised. There shouldn’t
be mistakes with grammar
and spelling.

5. 5La Trobe University
What to look for – Websites
Use the same principles for evaluating websites as you would books and articles.
Additional things to consider:
Reliable websites usually have
a more professional feel than
unreliable websites – click on
the examples to the right and
see the difference.
Broken links can mean no one
is looking after the site and
other information may be out
of date.
Note the web address and the
type of institution publishing
the information. They may
give biased information that
supports their perspective or
agenda.
Always check when a
webpage was last updated. Is
it up-to-date enough for your
research?
Domain identification help: Look for advertisements; this
can mean that information is
more commercial and
potentially biased.

6. 6La Trobe University
Need more information?
 See the online tutorial on Evaluating Information Sources
http://latrobe.libguides.com/evaluatingsources
 See the online video What is a scholarly journal?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6WVJEXJj_o
 See the online video Evaluating Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-y9VzE2YTs
 See the online video Why Can’t I Just Google?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39mnu1Pkgw

7. 7La Trobe University