Research 101

📋 Objective: Evaluating research ensures that the research material is appropriate for your project. This helps you to determine if a source has the information you need and that it is of good quality. In academic research, standards require that sources are scholarly, factual, and supportable.

Is it scholarly?

Scholarly sources are created by a subject matter expert, often a professional researcher or published by an academic outlet, with the goal of sharing new information with other researchers. These materials are often also peer-reviewed (evaluated by a panel of experts). Locate scholarly sources in academic journals or reference books. 

Is it right?

Correctness calculates what makes the source right or wrong and how confident you can be in that assessment. This can be a formal methodology or standards that researchers in the field try to follow. Locate an authority in a respected person, organization, or rule book to back up your judgements. 

Is it right for you?

Reflect on why you selected this source to begin with. Are your project's aim's and level of analysis still the same? Go back to the research question(s) that you started with and decide if you need to revise your thesis statement. 

Evaluation Strategies