ASRC 1859-How to Write About Africa: Evaluate Sources

How to Critically Analyze Information Sources

A guide to the critical questions you should ask when you consider the appropriateness of a particular book, article, media resource, or Web site for your research.

Evaluating the sources you find is a crucial step in the process of scholarly research. The questions you ask about books, periodical articles, or multimedia sources are similar whether you're looking at a citation to the item or have the item in hand.

Watch this video to learn how to identify scholarly journal articles.

Be skeptical of news that comes to you through third-party channels (social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and even web searches).

Independently verify the source (by performing a separate search) and verify the information (through trusted news sources).

Select news sources known for high-quality, investigative reporting and search these sources directly. Don't settle for web search results or social media news feeds.

For more information on spotting fake news or unreliable information, see the Library's guide on Evaluating News Sources.