Finding Credible Sources

for Your Research Paper

To determine whether or not your source is credible (reliable, believable) ask yourself the following questions:��

Contributor/Author�

• Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?

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• Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?

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• Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?

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• Book: What have reviews said about it?

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Publisher

• What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?

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• Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?

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• Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?

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Bias

• Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?

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• Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?

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• Are there ads?

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Currency

• When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?

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• Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?

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• Does the source even have a date?

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Types of Sources for Your Research

• Internet
• Databases
• Books

Internet Sources

• Ask yourself the questions on the previous slides to judge a website’s credibility
• Best to use educational institutions (.edu) and government agencies (.gov) if possible
• Google Scholar!!! Very credible results.
• To create a citation for an internet source, copy the URL (web address) and paste it into a citation generator like zbib.org or easybib.com. Then you can simply copy and paste the resulting citation into your doc!

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Database Source

• A database is collection of lots of different types of information (for example, encyclopedia articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, images, videos, etc.) stored in one place and accessed on a computer through the internet.
• You can trust that the information found in the library databases is credible. It has already been fact-checked by experts. On the other hand, most of the information found on the Internet hasn't been fact-checked and isn’t always reliable.
• The citation is located at bottom of the page in database articles; simply copy and paste it into your doc!

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Book Source

• Nonfiction library books are always an option! They’re generally very credible sources.
• To create a book citation, type the ISBN (a number located on the back of the book underneath the barcode) into zbib.org or easybib.com.