HONR 212: Exercise is Medicine: Evaluating Sources

There are several ways to evaluate the research and information you come across as you determine what kind of information is best for your research topic.

When conducting research, you should be aware that not all scientific articles are the same. Here are some key features of the different types of writing you may come across in your searching:

Peer-Reviewed (Scholarly) Articles

• Original research written by scholars/researchers, often for a university or laboratory
• Include an abstract and a bibliography
• Use discipline-specific language
  • Need assistance in how to identify a scholarly article? (link provided)

Abstract, Conference Publication/Presentation, Dissertation Proposal

• Written by graduate students or content area specialists
• Provide brief descriptions of original research; may not be published (or compete)
• Useful when looking for recent research in the scientific community

Review Articles

• Overview of a field or subject; often synthesize previous research in that field
• Useful when conducting background research or a literature review (or finding additional references)

Clinical Trials/Clinical Study

• Individual or group study on patients at a clinical or medical practice
• Summarize the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a disease or ailment.

Meta-Analysis

• Procedure for combining data from multiple studies; if treatment effect (or effect size) is consistent across several studies a meta-analysis can be conducted
• No new experimentation is completed; data is combined from several trials to see if any patterns emerge
• Commonly done in the medical field

Popular/News Articles

• Written by journalists or write who may not have content area expertise
• Rarely have an abstract or bibliography
• Use language for a general audience

Perspective/Opinion Article

Book Review

The CRAAP method guides you in evaluating your sources according to 5 different criteria: CURRENCY, RELEVANCY, AUTHORITY, ACCURACY, and PURPOSE. Outlined below are the criteria; these can guide you in writing the annotations for your annotated bibliography.

Currency

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of-date for your topic?

Relevance

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use? 
• Would you be comfortable using this source within your research?

Authority

• Who is the author/publisher/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
  • What are those credentials or affiliations?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?

Accuracy

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?

Purpose

• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?