When using the print and multimedia materials found in your college library, part of your evaluation task has been completed for you, because librarians have already established the credibility and appropriateness of those materials for academic research. For example, if you are using OneSearch through the UMGC library to find articles relating to project management and cloud computing, any articles that you find have already been vetted for credibility and reliability to use in an academic setting.
Click on the following resource links from the UMGC library for more information about evaluating resources:
Distinguishing among Scholarly, Popular, and Trade Journals
Using Library Research Databases to Locate Scholarly Articles
Web Based Resources
Because the Internet is easy to navigate and readily accessible, web material is unpredictable—it changes, becomes outdated, or is deleted. Because there is frequently no quality control over web information, you must critically evaluate all the material you find there, text and graphics alike.
Key Takeaways
- Any resource—print, human, or electronic—used to support your research topic must be evaluated for its credibility and reliability.
- Evaluate sources of information by examining them for authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage.
