It's good practice to evaluate each source you are considering using to ensure the material is credible and suits your research needs.
You can use the processes and guiding questions listed in the following sections to determine whether potential sources are relevant to your needs and if you feel comfortable using them in your research!
Parts of the content contained on this page have been adapted, with changes, from Mike Caulfield's SIFT (The Four Moves) under a CC BY 4.0 License.
Before you begin evaluating the content of a piece, stop and determine:
Nobody likes a game of telephone! If a source includes a citation you are interested in, it's best practice not to make an indirect citation. Instead, try to go directly to the original source of information you are trying to incorporate in your research. Reading the information in its original context will give you a sense as to whether other sources are accurately portraying and fairly representing it.
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