Skip to Main Content

Research Process: Researching and Writing: Evaluate Your Sources

This guide has been created to provide quick access to resources that support the research process.

Are Your Sources Credible?

It is important to find credible print and online resources. When evaluating information, ask yourself the following questions:

Currency        What is the date of the information? Is the information recent, or have there been newer updates?

Relevancy      Why are you choosing this resource? Is this resource general or specific?

Accuracy        Is this information correct? Can it be verified? Is it complete? Are there citations included in the information?

Authority        Is the author, creator, or organization identified? What are their credentials?

Purpose        Who is the intended audience? Is the site trying to sell anything? What biases does the author have

                        and how do they affect the resource?

Purdue Libraries. (2020, November 4). Evaluating sources: How to evaluate sources [Video]. https://youtu.be/KYrMC8ZaKA8

There are many methods for evaluating information. Two of the more popular methods are the CRAAP (currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, purpose) test and CARS (credible, accurate, reasonable, support) evaluation method.

Snowden Library. Lycoming College. (2020, July 21). Evaluating online sources with the CRAAP test [Video]. https://youtu.be/Q8zRBdKlszE

The goal of peer review is to assess the quality of information within an article. Peer-reviewed articles may go through the following:

  • The author submits their article to an editor who forwards it to experts for review. These experts are considered to be the author’s peers (peer-review). 
  • These reviewers carefully evaluate the quality of the information.
  • The peer reviewers check the article for accuracy and assess the validity or quality of the information.
  • The reviewers may suggest revisions or edits. If the article does not meet established standards for a given discipline, it is rejected.
  • Peer-reviewed articles that are accepted for publication demonstrate the best research practices in a field.

Features of a Peer-Reviewed Article

Infographic highlighting the features of a peer-reviewed article.

Where to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles

Search your library's article databases for peer-reviewed journals. To ensure that your results come from peer-reviewed or scholarly journals, do the following:

  • Read the description of the article database to determine if it features peer-reviewed articles.

  • On the database's search screen, look for a check-box that allows you to limit your results to peer-reviewed only.

  • If you didn't check off the "peer-reviewed articles only" box, look for an option that allows you to filter your results by resource type. For example, the database Proquest Central, provides an option for choosing "Scholarly Journals" in its "results" screen.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Lord Sealy Library. (n.d). Features of a peer-reviewed article. https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/evaluatingsources