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PWR 1MG: Numbers, Metrics, and Counting: The Rhetoric of Quantitative Thinking: How to evaluate sources

This guide is here to introduce PWR1 students in Mark Gardiner's class on useful library resources.

How to evaluate sources

Most article databases indicate whether sources are scholarly, or from non-scholarly sources. But evaluating sources, scholarly or not, is a complex task. Here is a short video that describes some variables you should take into account when evaluating sources. Even though a source may be be biased, or manipulative, or even false, it maybe a valuable source for your research, as long as you make clear its purpose. Important variables include:

  • Author
  • Audience
  • Review Process
  • Currency
  • Perspective