As you search, you should evaluate the sources you find. Books, articles, and websites are created by people with a wide range of opinions, education, and purposes for writing. You could also find sources that are outdated, inaccurate, or just not useful for your research.
There are many strategies for evaluating your sources, but one that we as librarians recommend is the SIFT Method. SIFT is an acronym that represents four criteria that should be on your checklist as you read through a source. As you read sources, keep the following things in mind: Stop before you read, Investigate the Source, Find Better Coverage, and Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media back to the Original Context.
The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield. All SIFT information on this page is adapted from his materials with a CC BY 4.0 license.
Be aware of your emotional response to the headline or information in the article. Headlines are often meant to get clicks and will do so by causing the reader to have a strong emotional response. Before sharing, consider:
Don't use the source until you have found out more about its content, its creator, and its publisher.
The quality of your research is determined by the sources you use. Investigate a source by leaving that web page and looking for information about the source elsewhere. Take a moment to look up the author and source publishing the information.
Sometimes it's less important to know about the source and more important to assess their claim. That means we can try and validate the information we're looking at in other sources. This helps to both verify whether the information is true and to find a better, or more trusted, source of coverage.
"Trusted coverage" can mean:
Many times the information we encounter is stripped of its context, which can distort its meaning. It's important to trace claims, quotes, and media back to their original source so that you can understand the context and ensure the information is being presented accurately.
Click through the links to follow the claims to the original source of information. Open up the original reporting sources listed in a bibliography if present. Consider:
After you've found the original claim, quote, finding, or news story, ask yourself if it was fairly and accurately represented in the media that you initially came across.
There are many different kinds of sources we can use in our research.
Peer-Reviewed Articles: found in scholarly journals, these articles are written to make an academic argument or report the results of a research study. The peer-review process involves experts in a given field vetting articles written by others in the field. Use these sources to demonstrate what scholars and experts in the field think about your topic.
Academic and Non-Fiction Books: usually written by academics, scholars, and experts. Academic books are usually published by academic publishers (like Routledge or Elsevier) or university presses (like the Yale University Press). Other non-fiction books are published by a wide range of publishers. Books of these types are written to make a very in-depth academic argument or to convey factual information. Academic books are often collections of articles on a topic and do not need to be read cover to cover.
News and Periodical Sources: created by journalists and media companies, these sources are found on news websites, and in newspapers or magazines. These sources can be found in print or online! They are to written to convey timely, public, or individual opinion about a topic. Many of these sources are vetted by fact-checkers and editors before publication, but not always.
Social Media and Commercial Websites: social media sources come from posts on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and blogs. Their content is user-generated. Commercial websites include most .com websites. They are written to convey public, corporate, or individual opinion about a topic. With context, these sources can give you up-to-date information and help you convey what real people think about your topic.
Data and Statistical Sources: data and statistics are often collected via research or polling. These results are then published on websites, in research studies, or as raw data. They are used to present factual and numerical information.