ENGL 100: Intro to Literary Study: Ireland (Reynolds)

Evaluating Sources

Sometimes referred to as interrogating sources or investigating sources, it is always important to determine what kind of source you are looking at and whether or not the information in it is credible or not. The first step in source evaluation is determine whether it qualifies as a Popular Resource or Scholarly Resource. You can do so by comparing a source to the chart below:

Understanding Source Types

When conducting academic research, there are many different types of resources you can draw from, and different ways to use them! Think of the beginning stages of your research almost like online shopping - you're browsing whats available, checking the sizing guide, and adding things to your cart on a conditional basis. Below you will find definitions of common source types for academic research so that you can more easily identify what you're looking at when you start researching in Cross Search or other databases. 

Academic Journals are professional publications containing articles about a certain field of study written by experts. Articles published in these journals are typically peer reviewed, meaning they are read, edited, and eventually approved by other experts in the field. These articles are an example of a scholarly resource, since they are written and reviewed by experts and published in respected academic journals. 

Books and Ebooks by experts in any given field of study are considered excellent scholarly resources. Books focused entirely on a certain academic subject are often referred to as Scholarly Monographs. The library has a large collection of physical books for you to use for your thesis, as well as access to a great deal of E-books. You can search the Library Catalog directly by going to the library homepage and toggling the search bar over to "library catalog." This will show you results for what the library physically holds or has digital access to. 

Library of Congress Call numbers for English 

P- Philology, Linguistics

PA - Greek/Latin Language and Literature

PJ - Oriental Languages and Literatures

PK - Indo-Iranian Languages and Literatures

PL - Languages and Literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, and Oceania

PN- Literature (General) 

PQ - French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Literature

PR - English Literature

PS - American Literature

PT- German, dutch Flemish, Afrikaans, Scandinavian, Old Norse, Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian, Modern Icelandic, Forese, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Literatures