You can also ask your lecturer or the librarian for guidance. Skip to main content. Referencing and Academic Integrity. Using Credible And Reliable Sources. It is important to only use credible and reliable sources in your assignments. Usually these comprise peer reviewed articles, most of which are available through the Elibrary. Some examples include educational. 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. 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 Some blog writers may have valid credentials, but because their writing is not peer-reviewed or held to an academic standard, sites such as these are typically unreliable sources.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. In academic writing, the sources you use must be reliable; therefore, you should rely mainly on scholarly sources as the foundation for your research.
Research is the foundation of a strong argument, theory, or analysis. When constructing your research paper, it is important to include reliable sources in your research.
Without reliable sources, readers may question the validity of your argument and your paper will not achieve its purpose. Academic research papers are typically based on scholarly sources and primary sources.
Scholarly sources include a range of documents, source types, and formats, but they share an important quality: credibility. More than any other source you are likely to encounter during your research, a scholarly source is most likely to be reliable and accurate.
Primary sources are documents that were written or created during the time period under study. They include letters, newspaper articles, photographs, and other artifacts that come directly from a particular time period. A scholarly source can be an article or book that was written by an expert in the academic field.
Most are by professors or doctoral students for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Since the level of expertise and scrutiny is so high for these articles, they are considered to be among the best and most trustworthy sources. If an article does not, try searching for the author online to see how much expertise he or she has in the field. You may decide to use sources that are not scholarly articles, such as interviews or newspaper articles.
These sources should also be written by an expert in the field and published by a reputable source. An investigative essay in the New Yorker would be fine; an investigative essay in the National Enquirer would not. Other types of scholarly sources include non-print media such as videos, documentaries, and radio broadcasts.
Other sources may include tangible items such as artifacts, art, or architecture. Your audience is going to expect you to use the best, most correct, most recent, and most reliable information possible so that they can trust in your expertise.
Using evidence that does not come from a credible source of information will not convince your reader that your claim is plausible or even correct. Next: What Makes a Source Credible?
Search this site. What Does Credibility Mean? Apr 13, Angel Brecht. Krahenbuhl, Communication Studies Program Coordinator With the infinite amount of information online, it can be difficult to decipher what is true and accurate and what is not. What is reliable information? How to identify reliable sources What makes a source reliable? That criteria are as follows : Authority : Who is the author?
What are their credentials? Do they have knowledgeable experience in the field they are writing about? What is their reputation? Are there proper citations? Is the information biased?
0コメント