RAMAT 110: Race Matters, First-Year Seminar

Once you have entered a search string, it is time to evaluate the results for both quality and relevance to your research assignment. Relevance is largely a function of what types of resources your instructor requires you to use; for example, you may be required to include scholarly publications, like peer-reviewed journal articles, or you may be permitted to use popular sources, such as blogs or news articles. In addition, you should consult the assignment instructions to identify whether (and how may) primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary sources are required. (For more information on these distinctions, please see the Distinguishing Source Types section of this LibGuide.) In addition to having a sufficient number of resources and resource types for your assignment, you should ask:

1. How does the resource aid in your research?

The first thing to consider when evaluating the relevance of any information resource is how it will actually be useful for your research assignment. Does it provide important context or background information that you can use to help you or your audience better understand why you chose a particular topic? Does it offer data or theoretical insights you need to support your thesis? Does the author respond in some meaningful way to another source you are citing (e.g., by defending or disputing claims)? You don't necessarily need to read the entire article or book to answer this question; a quick and easy way to determine whether a resource might be useful for your research project is to read the summary, abstract, table of contents, or reviews.

Resource quality is an important consideration when conducting library research, because you want to ensure that you are working with valid and reliable information in your project. The following five questions can help you evaluate the quality of information resources:

2. Who is the author/creator of the resource?

For most reliable information resources, the name of the author/creator will be clearly listed; without clear attribution, the quality of the information is questionable. Once you have identified the author/creator, you should be able to find information about them (e.g., education, credentials, professional experience, institutional affiliations) to help confirm their subject expertise or potential biases. Be wary of using resources that identify GenAI (e.g., ChatGPT) as an author, since it can be difficult to trace that information back to its original source for purposes of attribution and quality evaluation.

3. What is the type of resource?

Consider the type of resource when evaluating the source quality, as the standards will be different depending on the type of resource. If it is a scholarly book, article, or conference proceeding, you should be able to identify information about the publisher and their publishing standards. For non-scholarly material, quality can be more challenging to evaluate, especially if the author is not known to be a subject expert.

4. When was the resource published?

The publication date can help indicate whether the resource is still a relevant/authoritative source of information on a particular topic. For example, if you were interested in finding statistics on population demographics in Minnesota in 2024 you wouldn't want to consult resources from the 1900's.

5. Where was the resource published?

Identifying the publisher for a resource can help confirm the reliability of that information. For example, if it is an article is it from a reputable journal and what sort of peer-review process does that journal use when vetting article submissions? Likewise, for a book you should consider whether it was published by a reputable academic publisher or a pay-to-publish vanity press. If you have questions about whether a particular publisher is sufficiently reputable, consult with your instructor or a librarian.

6. Why was the resource published?

Once you've identified the author and the publisher for an information resource, you can often infer the reason why it was published. For example, most authors in the academic publishing space publish in order to disseminate information for scholarly purposes, such as advancing knowledge in their field. However, in some cases, the author may have less noble motives, such as making a profit or spreading misinformation. Check to see whether the research was funded by a non-profit organization or by a corporation which stands to benefit from skewed results (e.g., climate change research sponsored by fossil fuel companies).