LibGuides: Communication Studies: Evaluating Sources

Where do you find indications of reliability?

Periodicals may be in print, in electronic format, or in microform. Regardless of the format, you need to assess the reliability and usefulness of the information. However, the format can affect how you find indications of reliability. In general,

if the periodical is in print or microform, look for indicators of reliability in the issue containing your article.
if the periodical is in electronic format and you are in its home web site, look for links that lead you to the indicators of reliability.
if the article is in a full-text electronic index, you will only see the article itself. Look at the index's list of periodicals indexed. This list will give you some of the information you need. For the rest of the information, find a print copy of the periodical or ASK A LIBRARIAN for help.

Is it scholarly? Most of the articles you use are likely to be found online in full-text format. Limiting your search to Scholarly/Academic sources, does not guarantee all of your sources will be scholarly. The following tips can help you determine if your online source is scholarly.

Evaluating Sources (NCSU)

Resource Type - Overview (CCCC)

Peer-reviewed journals, professional journals, popular magazines, and books are all used in SCC class assignments. They can be found using Integrated Search, Databases, or the Library Catalog.

(Central Carolina Community College)

Indications of reliability

There is a key difference between books and periodicals, regardless of their format, and web sites.

Books may have a print, electronic, or microform version. However, prior to publication, information found in books go through some level of editorial or peer review.
Periodicals may have a print, electronic, or microform version. However, prior to publication, information found in periodicals go through some level of editorial or peer review
Web sites do not generally have print or microform versions. Nor does the information in web sites normally go through any kind of review process.

Taken together, the six evaluation criteria plus the presence or absence of logical fallacies and reputable documentation will provide you with an overall impression of the reliability of a piece of information. Finding indications of reliability in a particular piece of information is the next part of evaluating information. The table below summarizes this.

If you have not looked at the criteria for evaluating information, you should back up and scan those definitions.

The next three sections on finding indications of reliability in books, periodicals, and web sites are summarized in a table.

Indications of Reliability

If you are looking for indications of:	in books look on the:	in journals look on the:	in websites look on the:
Authority	Title page, Forward, Preface, Afterward, Dust Jackets, Bibliography	Periodical covers, Editorial Staff, Letters to the Editor, Abstract, Bibliography	URL, About Us, Publications, Appearance
Accuracy	Title page, Forward, Preface, Afterward, Periodical covers, Dust Jackets, Text, Bibliography	Periodical covers, Text, Bibliography	URL, About Us, Home page, Awards, Text
Objectivity/Point of View/Bias	Forward, Preface, Afterward, Text, Bibliorgraphy	Abstracts, Text, Bibliography, Editorials, Letters to the Editor	About Us, Site Map, Text, Disclaimers, Membership/Registration
Coverage	Table of contents, Forward, Preface, Afterward, Bibliography, Dust Jacket	Periodical covers, Table of contents, Bibliography	About Us, Site Map, Text, Disclaimers/Registration
Currency	Title page, verso, Bibliography	Title page, Bibliorgraphy, Abstracts	Home page, Copyright, What's New
Audience	Forward, Preface, Afterward	Letters to the editor, Editorial, Appearance	Home page, About, Mission, Disclaimer, Members only
Organization	Table of Contents	Table of Contents	Site Map, Navigation bars, internal search engine
Logical Fallacies	Text	Text	Text
Documentation	Bibliography, footnots	Bibliography, footnotes	Bibliography, links to external websites