Evaluate Your Sources

Look for the author's credentials--information like the author's education, experience, occupation, position, and other publications by the author to help you determine whether the author knows about their subject.

The credentials of the author of a book are frequently on the jacket, or at the beginning of a book.

Articles may or may not present credentials. Popular magazines usually just list the author's name, but sometimes even that is not listed. Articles in professional or scholarly journals may list credentials at the beginning or end of an article and usually include the name of the author and details that pertain to their expertise on the topic, such as education, occupation or college or university at which the author teaches on the subject. (see the chart below under 5. Review and Editing).

Websites, like articles, may or may not present credentials. A common place for Web sites to list credentials is at the top or bottom of the page. You may have to go back to the home page of the site to see credentials. If credentials are not listed, that does not mean that the author has no expertise, but it does make it hard for you to evaluate whether he/she/they do and that means the sources may not be appropriate for college level research.