Evaluating What You Have Found

Library Guide
No. 1.2

When doing library research for an essay, seminar, or term paper, it is important not only to LOCATE information for your chosen topic, but also to EVALUATE the information you have found. The first criterion you are most likely to apply is whether or not the material you have located is pertinent to your topic. A few minutes spent glancing at the table of contents of a book, or scanning the abstract (if there is one) as well as the opening and concluding paragraphs of an article can often provide enough information to let you know if the entire publication is relevant to your subject. But even articles, books, reports, etc. whose subject matter is focused on your chosen topic need to be examined critically to determine if they are an appropriate resource for your research essay.

Some Useful Questions You Might Ask:

What qualifications does this author have to write on this topic?
What is the author's purpose for researching and writing this article or book, etc.? Is it clear who the intended audience is?
Does this article or book seem objective or does the author have a bias or make assumptions?
What method of obtaining data or conducting research did the author use?
At what conclusions does the author arrive?
Is there any evidence provided to support the author's conclusions, such as charts, maps, bibliographies, documents, etc.?
What is the reputation of the publisher or producer of the book or journal? Is it an alternative press, a private or political organization, a commercial press, or university press?

Information on the World Wide Web

Evaluating resources found on the web presents some special challenges. Unlike most print resources, much that appears on the web (often with sophisticated graphics) is unfiltered, meaning it has not gone through a peer review, or even an editing process. In addition to the questions posed earlier you might ask:

What institution or Internet provider supports this information? (Look for a link to the homepage.)
What is the author's affiliation to this institution?
Does the author provide background information relating to his/her authority for expertise in this area?
When was this information last updated?

Note: Internet resources (including electronic journals) evaluated by Waterloo Librarians to be relevant to your discipline and offering an academic focus are accessible via links in the UW Library web page. See: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/discip.html

Another excellent web source to check for relevant information is the University of Waterloo Library Scholarly Societies Project, which facilitates access to information (including electronic journals) about scholarly societies across the world. See: http://www.scholarly-societies.org/overview.html

Also there are some useful web sites that will help you evaluate any Internet resources in more detail. Two good ones are: http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/evaluating/ and http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.

Journals

If you are evaluating a journal article, check if any information is given about the journal, such as the sponsoring association, etc., and it's editorial board. Look to see if the guidelines for submitting manuscripts are clearly stated and if submissions are refereed or if the journal only publishes solicited articles. (Note, one of the characteristics of scholarly journals is that all articles are peer reviewed prior to acceptance for publication.)

Check for any statement regarding the parameters of the journal's subject matter. Often all this information is given succinctly at the beginning of each issue or on the editorial page.

Books

If the information was published in a book, you can check for a book review in an appropriate index/database, such as the Book Review Digest, available through the Library at http://journal-indexes.uwaterloo.ca/ . Ask at the Information Desk for the names of other reviewing indexes and their locations or consult a Library Guide Finding Book Reviews at http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/libguides/1-3.html.

Authors

If desired, additional information about authors often can be found by checking appropriate subject related Who's Who titles and/or directories of pertinent professional associations found in the Reference collection. You could also check on the influence a particular author had on the research of others in his or her field by using Citation Indexes (Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index), or Web of Science (combined interface for above three databases). If you have never used any of these before, be sure to ask for help at the Information Desk in the Dana Porter or Davis Centre Library.

Bibliographies

Bibliographies are useful both for helping you locate information as they cite relevant publications and, if annotated, for giving you some evaluative comments regarding materials on your topic. (Annotated bibliographies include written comments on each publication cited.) To find bibliographies, look in Primo under your topic followed by the word bibliography. For example, enter search terms family canada bibliographies in subject.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that you would want to take all these steps with every book or article you read, or every reference you include in a term paper or essay. However, in today's information society, it often can be easier to locate numerous publications relevant to your topic than to select those titles that are the best references for your particular focus. Furthermore, it can be vital to be able to apply critical judgement regarding those references to which you give heavy weight in your paper. For help with this, or any other step in locating and evaluating information for your research project, you can ask for assistance at the Information Desk in a UW Library. For in-depth help with research in your discipline, you may contact a subject specialist Liaison Librarian to arrange for a consultation.

Created by Margaret Hendley
Revised 03/2001 by Dan Sich
Revised 09/2009 by Helena Calogeridis

For assistance enquire at one of the Information Desks or consult the Ask a Librarian Web page at: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/asklib/

For a list of subject specialist Liaison Librarians check
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/tour/librarians.html

Library Guide, No. 1.2 Evaluating What You Have Found
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/libguides/1-2.html
Copyright © University of Waterloo

Last Updated: September 21, 2009

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