Evaluating Sources – Credibility, Methods, and Guide

Primary and secondary sources form the backbone of research. It is essential to carefully evaluate different resources and their relevance, creating credibility around a research endeavour when working with sources. Evaluating sources is essential to ensure resources are allocated appropriately, and the research findings are relevant in the field of study under which the research is undertaken.

Definition: Evaluating sources

Evaluating sources refers to the process of putting different research sources under scrutiny. Evaluating sources is the main component of the initial stages of research, such as a litreature review, where researchers identify and analyse the available materials before a research undertaking.

Evaluating sources involves determining

• the credibility of a source,
• its relevance to the study,
• and assessing the arguments presented in the source.

It is important to formulate a research topic and understand it comprehensively when evaluating sources.

Evaluating sources: Credibility

Assessing the credibility of a source is important to avoid inaccuracy or misrepresentation of facts. Evaluating sources entails filtering available sources to identify accurate and verifiable information. Some of the methods of evaluating sources include:

CRAAP Test

The CRAAP test is one of the most commonly used techniques for evaluating sources. The acronym CRAAP stands for:

Evaluating sources using the CRAAP criteria depends on the research topic. Researchers should know the various types of sources and how they apply to the specific field when evaluating sources.

Lateral reading

Lateral reading refers to evaluating sources by comparing them to other sources on the research topic. This enables a researcher to:

• Cross-check evidence
• Put the information in context
• Find any gaps, weaknesses, or inconsistencies in the source

Evaluating sources: Relevance

Selecting the relevance of a source comes down to the research topic and scope of the study. Evaluating sources during the early stages of research helps to eliminate irrelevant sources and identify the relevant ones.

Preliminary evaluation

In most cases, researchers have many potential sources. In the interest of time, personnel, and other resources, researchers are limited to only a few sources as it is impossible to evaluate every potential source. A preliminary evaluation is an elimination process to identify the sources that are more likely to be relevant to the research topic.

You can do a para textual analysis, i.e., an overview of other material outside the author’s main ideas within a source rather than the text itself. This can be done by:

• Studying the table of contents to identify the main areas discussed in the text.
• Reviewing key terms in the index or names of reputable scholars involved in the publication of the work.

Additionally, you can analyse the preface, abstract, and conclusions in a source. Reading these areas when evaluating sources should convey a general idea of the argument proposed in the text, the scope of the work, and notable conclusions by the authors.

The benefits of preliminary evaluation in evaluating sources include:

• Ascertaining if a source should be shortlisted for an in-depth analysis.
• Saving time by identifying relevant sources faster.
• Ensuring quality sources are used for research.

In-depth evaluation

A good approach for in-depth evaluation is to examine watershed studies in your field of study in conjunction with sources that have been earmarked as relevant to the research topic. When determining links between the sources, highlight the following:

It is important to also consider sources you disagree with, as they may offer an alternate conclusion that may solidify your argument.

Evaluating sources: The final steps

Sources that appear vague in their conclusions may not offer the in-depth conclusions that a credible research publication should portray. The conclusions by the authors should be backed by evidence from the applied research methods.

Researchers should evaluate how authors use primary and secondary sources in their arguments. A valid argument should illustrate a logical relationship between supporting evidence and findings based on critique and analysis. You can determine the strength of an argument by asking the following questions:

• Does the presented evidence support the argument?
• Which models or theories does the author use to present the evidence?
• Where does the author stand in his arguments? Does he concur, support or oppose other arguments proposed by other scholars?