If you’re writing a research paper as a student or researcher, the quality and relevance of your article sources matters. It affects how well you complete your research and determines the quality of your arguments or the strength of your work as a whole. Assessing your articles is, therefore, a crucial step in the research process. When evaluating sources for a research paper, it's essential to assess credibility and relevance, and a research paper writer service can help ensure the sources used are reliable. Academized.com offers expert writing services that assist students in conducting thorough research and selecting strong sources for their papers.
In this post, we are going to discuss the important aspects to consider when evaluating the credible information from your chosen sources that would be suitable for a research paper.
The first thing to look for in analyzing a source is the authority of the author or publisher: who’s giving you your information and what are their particular qualifications?
In general, academic journals, quality newspapers and magazines, and widely cited experts are credible sources, whereas personal blogs and anonymous websites are less so. Consider whether you have evidence of the author’s qualifications – has this person earned a degree in the field, works for a relevant company or organization, or published in a credible venue before?
It’s also worth looking at the reputation and reliability of the publisher or website where the information is located. You’re generally more likely to get accurate information on government websites or those run by educational institutions and established media companies than on informal, user-generated online sites.
How ‘live’ or current a source is matters too: for some topics, you may need the latest material, while for others, you can use a historic piece.
For fields that change quickly, such as technology or current affairs, you’ll want the most recent sources to have the latest data and analysis. For other subjects, particularly history or in some areas of the social sciences, several years ago might be fine.
If a source fails to clearly identify when it was published or last revised, it could be out of date. Any inferences you make in your paper based upon such inexact information might themselves be erroneous and incomplete.
To evaluate a source in a research paper, you need to consider its credibility, relevance, and accuracy, which is something the best research paper writers excel at when writing high-quality academic work. When evaluating the credibility of an information source, objectivity – that is, an absence of bias – is an important feature of a reliable source. You want to know that the information you’re learning is presented in a balanced, unbiased way (unbiased meaning without obvious political, commercial or personal agendas).
Check for the quality of the language – is it emotive, argumentative, evidently persuasive? Sources that take more than one view on a subject are almost always better than those which take only one.
You can also look at the author’s funders or publishers to determine their perspective on the topic. For example, was the publishing company funded by a special interest group, and how might this biased perspective be expressed in the publication?
Second, your sources need to be as accurate as possible; in other words, they should be factually correct. Otherwise, you could be drawing a false conclusion to your research, ruining your research paper.
A source that has been fact-checked will usually contain clues to its reliability: citations, references to original research, and careful attribution of information to the actual sources of that knowledge. A source that gives readers links or bibliographies to its claims is generally more reliable than the source that does not.
You should also try to check the same facts or figures in different sources and make sure they match. Any inconsistencies across different sources are often a good indication that further research is required.
Lastly, you need to consider whether a source is pertinent to the specific topic that you are researching, as well as to your own arguments in your paper. Just because a source is deemed authoritative, timely and accurate, it isn’t necessarily appropriate for your particular needs.
Think about where the source fits into the conversation at large. Is it directly or tangentially related to the question under investigation or topic you chose? The most relevant sources contain the most useful and relevant insights to support your thesis and bolster your paper.
Assessing sources is a complex and time-consuming process that can significantly impact the quality of your research paper. Breaking down the criteria of authority, currency, objectivity, accuracy, and relevancy will allow you to make better decisions about the credibility, reliability and adequacy of the sources that you choose to support your arguments.
Evaluation Criteria | Description |
Authority | Assess the credentials, expertise, and reputation of the author and/or publisher. Consider their academic degrees, professional affiliations, publication history, and the overall standing of the source. |
Currency | Determine how recently the source was published or last updated. Prioritize the most current information, especially for fast-moving fields. |
Objectivity | Evaluate the source for signs of bias, such as overly emotive language, single-sided perspectives, or clear ideological or commercial agendas. |
Accuracy | Look for indicators of fact-checking, such as citations, references to original research, and consistency across multiple credible sources. |
Relevance | Assess how closely the source's content aligns with your specific research topic and the arguments you are making in your paper. |
By carefully evaluating your sources using these criteria, you can ensure that the information you include in your research paper is trustworthy, relevant, and supportive of your overall arguments.
