Evaluating Sources


Once you have gathered your sources you need to evaluate them for usefulness. Useful books and articles will support your research with reliable information that is relevant to your topic. Here are some guidelines to help you evaluate your sources:

Sources on the Internet can pose special problems for evaluation. Internet news groups can be good sources of opinion but it is often difficult, if not impossible, to assess the reliability of a particular source. There is no quality control on the Internet, but sites administered by universities (.edu) or government organizations (.gov or .mil) are usually among the best.

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This page is maintained by Rebecca Knight, Reference Department.
Version: 02/08
Last modified: 02/11/08