CRITERIA IN

EVALUATING SOURCES
RELEVANCE OF THE SOURCE
TO THE RESEARCH 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.
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 of
Economics
b) How to Invest and Get Rich
c) 105 Habits of Highly Effective
Businessmen
AUTHORITY/AUTHOR’S
QUALIFICATION
• Is the author’s name identified?

• Is the author’s background, education, or training

related to the topic?

• Is he or she a professor in a reputable university?

• What are his/her publications?

• Is the contact information of the author available?

Key Ideas:
 If the source does not have an author, think
twice before using it.

 You can check the university’s website to

make sure that the professor is associated
with the university.
Key Ideas:
 Publications from professors are usually peer-
reviewed and have undergone a strenuous
publication process and are therefore reliable.

 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.
Which of the following texts would you use for a
research regarding the Holocaust?
a) Dark Shadows of the Past: A Comparative
Study on the Holocaust and the Death
March; authored by Mao Guevarra, PhD in
History
b) Analyzing Nazism and Extremist Supremacy,
authored by Adolf Mussolini, RMD
CURRENCY/DATE OF
PUBLICATION
Key Ideas:
 In most fields, the data from the
older publications may no longer be
valid. As much as possible, the date
of publication should be at most five
years earlier.
Which material will you use for a research on
electromagnetism?
a) Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity
and Magnetism, 1853
b) Basics of Electromagnetism, 2015
c) The Foundation of Studies in
Electromagnetism, 2009
d) Fundamentals of Physics, 2013
CONTENTS/ACCURACY
OF INFORMATION
• Does the author have a lot of citations in his
or her text and/or bibliography or works cited
section?
• What is the tone or style of writing?
• Is the information inaccurate?

• Is the information obviously biased or

prejudiced?
Key Ideas:
 The tone or 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.
Key Ideas:
 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.
Which of these sources would you use for a
research on Marxism?
a) The Dark Side of Marxism, Hen Sy
b) Karl Marx and the Fundamentals of
Marxism, Fred Angle
c) Effects of Marxism in an
Industrialized World, Rick Carlos