Dual Credit ENG 151 - SIFT Method for Evaluating Sources

Knowing more about your information can help you evaluate it properly. Start by identifying its format and then the source type.

Format refers to how information is packaged or organized: is it an academic journal? a book? a blog?

What's not an information format:

• Google (or any other search engine): it's a tool to help you find information!
• Website: a website is where you find information online. Format refers to the content on the website: is it a news article? a video?

Source type refers to the specific piece of information, like the article in a journal. 

Both the information format and source type can tell you more about:

• How the information was created.
• Its intended audience.
• What kind of review and publication process it went through.

There is a range of source types that reflects their intended audience; purpose; appearance; and length of their creation, review, and publication processes.

Popular Sources

• Content created and published quickly
• Some review, maybe none
• May or may not cite sources
• Written by anyone
• Audience is the general public
• Appearance is colorful, contains images, and may contain ads
• Purpose is to inform, entertain, discuss current events, share opinions, sell a product, monetize content

Popular sources comprise most of what we read everyday. They can be found in library databases as well as on the internet. Popular sources can be written by anyone, then published and shared quickly (especially online).

News articles are typically written by journalists. They are not subject experts on the topics they are writing about, but they are expert writers. Journalists are often assigned articles to write by their editor, which means they have to go out and research what's happening before they can report on it. Those articles are reviewed by editors, who may ask the journalist to make changes or verify details before the articles are published.

Scholarly Sources

• Content is created after considerable research done by experts
• Content is reviewed extensively by other experts
• Written by experts in that research area
• Audience is other researchers or scholars
• Appearance is plain, starts with an abstract, and contains a lengthy list of references at the end
• Purpose is to share findings from original research

Scholarly sources can be found in library databases and sometimes on the open internet. Many scholarly sources on the open internet are behind a paywall, which restricts access to the content unless you have a subscription or want to pay a fee for individual content. 

It's important to note that not every article that appears in a scholarly journal is original research that was peer reviewed. Scientists may write other articles that are published in a scholarly journal, like a letter to the editor.

Other Sources

These sources include information from books, primary sources, government publications, or statistics. These kinds of sources are reviewed more thoroughly and take longer to be published than a popular source, but have not gone through the official peer review process.

• Primary sources are materials that were written or produced at the time of an event. Many historical newspaper articles are examples of primary sources. Other types of primary sources include court cases, legislative documents, letters, photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and more. 

Watch the following video (5 min. 54 sec) for a closer look at the information cycle and information formats.