By Joan Whetzel

Teachers at the high school and college level require that the research papers their students write list the sources they used. It can be quite an arduous task finding the right sources for that research, however. What makes a good source? What factors should be considered when choosing a source?

  Is the Source Scholarly?

Scholarly are articles and white papers written by teachers and researchers in specialized areas of study. Their research writing is filled with subject area jargon and are illustrated with charts and graphs. Scholarly journals, which usually publish these scholarly research papers, are generally peer-reviewed meaning they are not marketed to the general public and carry no advertising. Scholarly sources include professional and academic journals, sources with statistical data and lab reports, literary reviews, commentaries on the arts, textbooks, and reference works as well as some non peer reviewed materials such as books published by University academic publishing houses. Scholarly sources almost always include endnotes and parenthetical citations.  

Popular Sources

No, popular sources are not considered scholarly, but even some sources considered commercial or aimed at general audiences contain well researched material that is backed up with good evidence. Magazines like Astronomy, Scientific American, and National Geographic are excellent examples of popular sources that make good sources for research papers. They are timely and their writers are usually professionals or amateurs who have been working in a particular subject area for many years, which gives them credibility.

Credibility of Sources

Sources gain credibility when they have been written by an author with a good reputation or published by a highly regarded organization. Academic sources carry more credibility than popular sources, however, some popular sources have more credibility than others. Comic books would probably not make good sources unless you were researching comic books (how they’re created, the effects of comics on society, etc.). The point here that sources that would otherwise not be considered credible might be  deemed credible if they fit into the subject of the research paper. For instance, they could be used as examples to illustrate a point.

This also applies to internet sources. Those that are tied to universities and professional organizations are generally considered to have credibility. Personal blogs are generally not considered credible, unless written by a professional in that subject area. The long and short of it is that there are many questionable websites out there. If you’re not sure if the this website is credible, first ask your teacher. If you can’t get hold of the teacher, and you’re still not sure if it’s credible, exclude the source and look for the information elsewhere.