Finding credible sources

It is important to critically evaluate information sources before using them. It will help make sure you use trustworthy sources of information and it will save time and effort by filtering out materials you should not use for course assignments, projects, and papers. Determining if your sources are credible can be easy or tricky based on the type of information source.

The library provides access scholarly materials, which are easy to determine the credibility of. Scholarly sources make much of the information you will need to decide on credibility readily available such as:

• The Bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date, volume and issue number)
• The author's affiliations and credentials (what their expertise is in the field)
• A summary of the article, known as the Abstract. 
• Notes, references, or works cited. (this information is provided so the researcher can verify sources and procure additional information for their research).

The library also provides many non-scholarly sources.

Newspaper articles, videos, audio clips, viewpoint essays, trade publications and more.  Beyond our library collection are millions of other sources you may encounter such as website content from commercial, government, educational and private entities.  Documentaries, films, recorded interviews, and television series are yet other useful types of sources, if credible.

Use LibSearch, the gold searchbox on the library's homepage, to search for scholarly and non-scholarly sources.