The English Corner at Richland College
How to Identify Credible Sources
Identifying a source’s credibility is the first step in deciding whether you can use it in your
academic paper. To determine if a source is appropriate for use in an academic paper, ask
questions about a source: who, what, when, why, and how.
Who
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Who wrote it? Is this person credible?
What makes the author an expert? Professor? Critic? Researcher? Scientist?
Can you verify his or her credentials?
Is the author with a credible organization?
Who is the publisher? Is it a university press or a popular press? The United States
government?
Who is the sponsor? Political group? University?
Who is the intended audience? Adults/children? A certain gender/ethnicity? Political group?
For a book, who reviewed it?
What are their credentials?
Where are they from? Magazine/Newspaper? University?
What
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What is the purpose of the information?
Is it to share new discoveries or research?
Is it a new argument/analysis about a topic? A new theory?
Or is it simply to make money?
What type of information is presented? General or specific? Comprehensive or selective?
Do you get the whole picture?
Are multiple sides of the argument presented?
What is the stance? Is there bias?
What do the reviews say about the book? Positive or negative?
What is the level of expertise of the author? General or specific?
Is it written for general public or researchers/academics?
When
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When was the information published?
Is it current or out of date?
Has new theory or research made the information irrelevant or inconsequential?
Is publication date relevant? Depending on your research field, it may not be.
If the source is a website, can you find the date?
When was it last updated?
Do other links on the page work?
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
Why
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Why was the information published?
Was the information published for the general public or specifically for researchers or
scientists? Books for the public are not intended for use as sources in academic papers but are
good for background info. They are too general.
Is the purpose to support a specific ideology, theory, or claim at the expense of another?
Is there an ulterior motive behind the author, publisher, or sponsor? Read the fine print. The
US govt. will have a very different view of marijuana than a pro-legalization group.
Is the information reliable or a spoof? Is it all in fun (The Onion)? Be careful of information
that looks credible but is really intended to fool or mislead you.
How
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How can you tell if the source is accurate?
Can the information be verified in another source?
How was it published? In a scientific journal or a self-published website?
Are there obvious factual errors? If so, there might be others. Are there grammatical errors or
typos?
Was the information published without careful editing?
As you determine that a source is credible, create a Works Cited entry for it immediately. That
way you will be able to find it later if you need to, and you will not accidentally plagiarize your
essay. Be sure you also know how to cite it correctly in your essay with in-text citations.
After you decide a source is credible and want to use it in your essay, be sure you read it
carefully, while taking notes and annotating it. For more help with how to read scholarly articles,
see the handout Active Reading. For more help annotating sources, see the handout Annotating
Sources.
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner