Why Evaluate Sources?
When you're doing research, you want to make sure the information you find is accurate, relevant, and appropriate for your topic. You shouldn't just conduct one search, pick the first few articles you find, and consider yourself done. Research is a process, and knowing how to analyze and evaluate your sources will make you a stronger researcher and help you learn more as you go through your process.
This page goes over one method for evaluating sources by asking yourself the 6 Questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. At first, you might find it takes some extra time to do this process of evaluating your sources, but the more you practice it the more it'll become a natural part of your research process.
Six Questions
Six Questions for Evaluating Sources
When you're looking at a source and deciding if it's right for your research, ask yourself the six questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
| WHO |
Who is the author? |
Look for more information about the author. Find out their qualifications and experience to determine if they are a credible expert on the topic. Be wary of sources where you cannot identify an author or creator. |
|---|---|---|
| WHAT |
What type of source is it? |
Think about what type of source you're looking at - is it a research paper? An entertainment piece? An opinion essay? Consider if it is scholarly or popular and what the format tells you about the source. |
| WHEN |
When was it published? |
Consider how recent and/or timely the information is and how recent you need information to be for your topic. In some subjects, new information develops very quickly and sources that are more than a few years old may already be outdated. In other subjects, information may move more slowly. |
| WHERE |
Where did you find the source? |
Look at where the source was published or shared. See what you can find out about the publisher and their editorial process (Is it peer reviewed? Edited by one general editor? Not edited at all?). Be on the lookout for conflicts of interest and potential bias in publishing. Consider if it is a scholarly publisher, a government source, an educational institution, or an informal source like a blog. |
| WHY |
Why was this written and published? |
Think about the purpose of the source and what it is trying to accomplish. Is the source trying to inform you of new information? Is it trying to persuade you to do something or to have a certain point of view? Is it an ad trying to sell you something? Is it entertainment? |
| HOW |
How did the author/creator find their information? |
If the source is an original research study, look at the methods and conclusions to learn about how the study was conducted and what they learned from it. If the author cites their sources, see if you can find the original source to verify the information. Be cautious using sources that do not contain citations or do not show how they got their information. |
Evaluating Sources Like a Fact-Checker
Reading Laterally
A recent study from Stanford looked at how fact-checkers evaluate the credibility of sources and compared their strategies with those of historians and students. One major difference was the amount of time spent looking at the source itself. When evaluating websites for credibility, historians and students tended to spend a good amount of time reading "vertically". They spent time looking at the website itself, including other pages on the website to try to figure out if it was a credible source. If the website had a good domain name, fancy logo, or well-designed graphics, historians and students generally concluded the website was a credible resource.
Instead, after a cursory glance at the website, fact-checkers would evaluate a website by reading "laterally." They would see what other sources, Wikipedia for example, reported on the source and authors. This is a great way to see what others have experienced and think about sources and authors.
Reading Upstream
After learning more about a source, you can check the credibility by "reading upstream." Does the source provide credible links to what it is reporting on, including primary sources? Does it only provide links to other pages on their website? Does it provide links to products that they are trying to sell?
Credible sources will bring in experts reporting from multiple perspectives.
Acknowledge Bias
At times it can be obvious that an author or media source is creating content from a particular viewpoint. However, readers also bring their own preconceived beliefs and ideas (political, social, economic, religious, etc.) with them. In fact, according to another study, people are twice as likely to believe sources that support their beliefs, regardless of the credibility of the source.
It is important to acknowledge that everyone has biases and that you are using them to judge the information you are reading. Savvy readers are able to object to the presentation of the facts or the conclusions the author drew without rejecting accurate data as fake news. In other words, you don’t have to like a piece of information to accept that it may be factually correct.