The Importance of Reliability
Using reliable sources in research papers strengthens your own voice and argument.
Learning Objectives
Recognize sources that may be biased
Key Takeaways
Key Points
- While researching for sources relevant to your topic, you need to critically read a source to identify possible political or other forms of bias, to consider the effects of historical context, and to discover possible bias on the part of the author.
- The age of a source is another factor to consider, the importance of which will differ depending on the topic.
- Consider the possible biases of the author.
- Websites, unlike books, do not necessarily have publishers. Therefore, you should be attentive to who is behind the websites you find.
Key Terms
- research: Diligent inquiry or examination to seek or revise facts, principles, theories, applications, et cetera; laborious or continued search after truth.
- source: The person, place or thing from which something (information, goods, etc. ) comes or is acquired.
Using sources in research papers strengthens your own voice and argument, but to do so effectively you must understand your sources and vet their reliability.
When researching, it is important to determine the position and the reliability of every source/author. This will ensure that your source is both credible and relevant, and that the source will enhance your paper rather than undermine it. The following are a few recommendations to approach sources in whatever form they take.
How Old Is the Source?
The guidelines for assessing the usability of print sources and digital sources (i.e., sources accessed through the Internet) are similar. One point to keep in mind for both digital and print sources is age: How old is the source? Examining the source’s age helps you determine whether the information is relevant to your paper topic. Depending on your topic, different degrees of age will be appropriate. For example,
if you are writing on 17th-century British poetry, it is not enough to simply find sources from the era, nor is adequate to reference only early 20th-century scholarly sources. Instead, it will be helpful to combine the older, primary sources with more recent, secondary scholarship. Doing so will make a convincing case for your particular argument. If you are researching public-health theories, however, your argument will depend on more modern scholarly sources. Older articles may include beliefs or facts that are outdated or have been proven wrong by more contemporary research.
With digital sources, be wary of sites with old, outdated information. The point is to avoid presenting inaccurate or outdated information that will negatively impact your paper.
Author Biases
Author bias is another consideration in choosing a source. “Author bias” means that the author feels strongly about the topic one way or another, which prevents the author from taking a neutral approach to presenting findings. For print sources, you can assess bias by considering the publisher of the book. Books published by a university press undergo significant editing and review to increase their validity and accuracy. Be cautious about self-published books or books published by specific organizations like corporations or nonprofit groups. Unlike university presses, these sources may have different guidelines and could be putting out information that is intentionally misleading or uninformed. Similarly, periodicals like scholarly journals or magazines may also have bias. However, scholarly journals tend to be peer-reviewed and contain citations of sources, whereas a magazine article may contain information without providing any sources to substantiate purported claims.
While you want to support your argument with your research, you don’t want to do so at the expense of accuracy or validity.
Online Resources
Websites, unlike books, do not necessarily have publishers. Instead, you should consider who is behind the websites you find. To avoid using information that comes from an unreliable source, stick to scholarly databases. While you can find some articles with general search engines, a search engine will only find non-scholarly articles. If you use broader Internet searches, look closely at domain names. Domain names can tell you who sponsors the site and the purpose of that sponsorship. Some examples include educational (.edu), commercial (.com), nonprofit (.org), military (.mil), or network (.net).
Depending on your topic, you may want to avoid dot-com websites because their primary purpose tends to be commerce, which can significantly affect the content that they publish. Additionally, consider the purpose that the website serves. Is any contact information provided for the website’s author? Does the website provide references to support the claims that it makes? If the answers to these types of questions are not readily available, it may be best to look in other places for a reliable source.
There are increasing numbers of non-scholarly sites that pertain to particular topics, but are not scholarly sources. Blogs, for example, may cater to a particular topic or niche, but they are typically created and managed by an individual or party with an interest in promoting the content of the blog. Some blog writers may have valid credentials, but because their writing is not peer-reviewed or held to an academic standard, sites such as these are typically unreliable sources.
Remember, when researching, the goal is not only to gather sources, but to gather reliable resources. To do this, you should be able to not only track the claims contained within a source, but also consider the stakes that may be involved for the author making those claims. While personal motivation may not always be accessible in a document, in some cases there can be contextual clues, like the type of publisher or sponsor. These may lead you to decide that one source is more reliable than another.
Money and magnifying glass: When you evaluate scholarly sources, look out for potential conflicts of interest and hidden agendas. For example, the sources of funding for research are very important, as they may influence the writers’ interpretation of results.
List of Credible Sources for Research. Examples of Credible Websites
Looking for relevant sources for your research is already a tiring process, but when you also need to pay attention to their credibility, it becomes almost impossible! However, it’s still a quite critical aspect to pay attention to. Using doubtful sources like Wikipedia, even if it’s a two-page essay in middle school, is not welcomed.
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Don’t know how to find reliable sources? No worries! Custom-Writing experts have created this brilliant guide for you. It’s not merely a compilation of tips on how to choose credible sources. There are several lists of sources that you can use for basically any type of writing assignment you may need to do!
Quick Navigation
Types of Credible Sources for Research
Credible Websites
Credible Journal Articles
Credible News
How To Start A Search For Sources
The Credibility of a Source
Free Resources For Learning
Sites For Scholarly Research
List of Credible Research Sources to Consider
Government Entities
Periodicals
Academic Libraries and Databases
Professional Standards Organizations
Indexes & Abstracts
Newspaper Indexes
Reference Books
Sources To Avoid When Conducting Research
Tips to Finding Research Paper Sources
Writing a research paper requires patience and a lot of in-depth analysis of a topic chosen and the sources used. This assignment is very popular in all college and school classes thus it helps students and writers showcase their basic skills such as critical thinking, cohesive writing, and reading comprehension.
Although this project is highly common, not everyone knows how to make a proper research paper. Therefore the article below can be of great help, thus it includes detailed information about writing a research paper and everything a student or writer needs to know about finding credible sources. Furthermore, lists of trustworthy sources for research in several fields such as periodical, academic, indexes, and government entities.
Lastly, some general tips to prove the credibility of a source and how to begin a source-finding process for an award-winning research paper. The following information can be used as a great guide for those in need of a beacon for creating a quality written composition worthy of academic achievement.