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Dual Credit ENG 151 - SIFT Method for Evaluating Sources

This guide explains how to use the SIFT Method for evaluating sources. SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the claim, Find better coverage, and Trace back to the original source.

Other Source Types

Other Source Types

You might find an article that isn't scholarly but is higher quality than the typical popular sources. These formal 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. Most of these kinds of sources can be found online or in print.

  • Pew Research Center is an example of one of these more formal sources. They are a non-partisan organization that conducts original research by polling the public, then compiling their data. They present their findings (in the form of statistics, often using charts and graphs) in an unbiased way, usually in the form of a report. Their research is typically in the area of different social issues and demographic trends.

Example: Which U.S. Workers Are More Exposed to AI on Their Jobs? (Pew Research Center research summary) On the right side of the article, they provide a linked table of contents. A PDF of the full report appears at the top-right, under Report Materials.

  • Government publications are also a type of higher-quality source that isn't popular or peer-reviewed. You may not find an author listed on a government source, but it is still considered authoritative because the government is the author.

Example: The Effects of Climate Change from NASA.gov

  • Primary sources are materials that were written or produced at the time of an event. Many historical newspaper articles are examples of primary sources. See NewsBank: America's Historical Newspapers for an example. Other types of primary sources include court cases, legislative documents, letters, photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and more. Archives.gov and LOC.gov are good places to find primary sources. You can also search library databases for primary sources.