SCLA 102: Transformative Texts, Critical Thinking and Communication II: Modern World

As you are researching, you will need to determine if it is credible and relevant to your research assignment and the particular argument or claim you are trying to make. We call this process of determining the credibility and usefulness of a source "evaluating." There is no one perfect step-by-step process for evaluating sources. One useful framework for evaluating sources is:

In the Investigate step of SIFT, where you think about the source you are currently exploring, you can consider a couple of broad ideas: 

1. Authority: exploring the origins of a source to make sure the author(s) and publisher have requisite expertise to be credible on the topic. 
2. Accuracy: exploring a source for validity and completeness. 
3. Perspective or Objectivity: exploring a source to determine the purpose and perspective of the author, publisher, and source.