Credible sources are the cornerstone of research papers. Your paper will not be taken seriously without credible sources, and you might lose credibility as a writer. So, how can you find out if a source is credible? Keep reading to find out everything there is to know about credible sources and where you can start.
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What is a credible source?
A credible source is a source that you can trust and where the evidence is backed up from a legitimate supplier of information free of bias. Using credible sources in your academic research is important because your readers will look for credible evidence that backs up your statements.
Examples of popular sources
When writing an essay, it’s important to make sure you have credible sources. There are different kinds of credible sources used in a college classroom — such as books, news articles, academic journal articles and other academic sources, and even websites.
Books
Books are usually considered credible sources because they’ve been reviewed and edited by other people in the field — but this doesn’t mean all books are credible. If you’re using a book, check to see who published it. Good publishers will have strict standards for what they publish. Avoid using books published by vanity presses or self-published books online unless you’re doing scholarly research.
News articles
News articles can be useful when writing about current events. They provide up-to-date information on subjects that change quickly. Because news articles cover the most recent developments, they’re rarely cited in academic essays, especially those about subjects where information changes slowly (like history or literature). News articles aren’t reviewed before publication the way books are, so use them with care.
Scholarly journals
Scholarly journals are like magazines for professionals in different fields. These magazines contain peer-reviewed journals and articles written by academics and professionals in the field who want to share their research with others. The peer-review process can also help you determine if an article is credible.
Types of sources
When writing a paper, it’s important to make sure that you’re using reliable sources to support your arguments. Otherwise, you may be unintentionally misleading your readers.
There are three source types to know.
Primary sources
The most reliable sources are primary sources. These are accounts written by people who witnessed the events in question. They’re generally considered the most reliable because they were written and provided by people who experienced the events firsthand and therefore know what they’re talking about.
Examples include news sources with reports you’ve gained, statistical results from studies you’ve done yourself, newspapers, photographs, and audio interviews. If you can find quotes or other information from primary sources, it’s good to use them.
Unfortunately, primary sources can be really tough to find or gather yourself. For example, if you want to learn about life in ancient Rome, the best source would be the writings of someone who lived in one of the ancient Roman cities back then. But very few of those documents still exist today, and research libraries that keep them are few and far between, so getting access to them can be difficult.
Even if you can’t get primary sources, other types of sources are still pretty reliable as long as you use them correctly.
Secondary sources
Secondary sources of information are useful in the research process. They summarize, assess, and describe primary sources. You won’t have access to primary sources most of the time, so you’ll be reading secondary ones.
Examples include books, journals, textbooks, and documentaries.
Secondary sources are useful because they can save time looking for evidence to support an argument. They also provide multiple views on a subject, which helps researchers understand a topic. They often provide a great overview of what’s been written on a subject and help us understand how the topic has changed over time.
Remember that secondary sources only give us their interpretation of the past (even when presented as fact), so we need to be careful about how much we trust them. It’s far too easy for bias to creep into someone’s writing when they’re on the side of a debate which can contaminate their arguments and transform them into unreliable sources.
Therefore they should be used in conjunction with primary sources.
Tertiary sources
Tertiary sources are those that consolidate or identify primary and secondary sources. These sources can be useful for finding additional sources of information and overviews of a topic. However, tertiary sources do not evaluate the accuracy or quality of the source or the information in it. They are also not intended to be used as reliable evidence in their own right.
A tertiary source can be a reference book, guidebook, or an online index or database. They also include textbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. They’re also known as “third-level” resources since they’re usually a synthesis of what has already been said on the topic.
The benefit of tertiary sources is that they’re often useful for identifying topics and locating primary and secondary sources. They can be a good starting place for research because they provide summaries and overviews of topics and additional resources. However, make sure they don’t have a refined point of view.
Also, in the modern age, some researchers turn to social media or Wikipedia as a tertiary source, but these are non-credible sources. They should also not be used in place of primary or secondary sources.
How to identify a credible source
There is no universal methodology for identifying a high-quality, credible source, but there are some common guidelines to follow.
Information should be current
The first step in identifying a credible source is to check the publication date. When researching some topics, it is important to use the most recent information.
For example, when researching the latest treatment methods for cancer, you must use a credible source that has been published within the last year.
Relevancy to the research topic
When identifying a credible source, you should also consider if the source is relevant to your research.
Suppose you are writing a paper on the effects of climate change on agriculture. You find an article that relates to climate change but not agriculture. In that case, this may not be a credible source for your research.
The author should be an expert
It is also important that authors are considered trusted authorities on the topic being discussed in credible sources.
Suppose you are writing a paper about climate change and find an article written by someone without any formal training in atmospheric science. In that case, it may not be a credible source for your research.
Sources should be unbiased
Lastly, make sure that your credible sources are easy to find and clear without bias. When choosing credible sources for your research project, make sure they can be easily accessed online or through your local library system.
Credible sources should also be clear and unbiased regarding the discussed subject matter.
Another way to remember all of the above is through the CRAAP test, which stands for:
- Currency
- Relevance
- Authority:
- Accuracy
- Purpose
Why a credible source matters
It is always important to use credible sources in an academic research paper. Being credible means the author is an authority on the subject, someone who has done research in the field and knows what they are talking about. Credibility also includes how reliable the information is and whether it fits with other known facts or not.
Primary sources are most often used in academic writing because they are original materials from the time you are researching.
For example, if you want to learn about George Washington’s life, you would want to use primary sources like letters he wrote and documents created during his lifetime.
Secondary sources tend to be more of an analysis of a topic than original research. While they are still credible, they are far removed on the scale. An example of a secondary source would be a biography written by someone else about George Washington’s life.
When researching your paper, you will want to use primary sources as much as possible when it comes to facts. However, tertiary sources should be your last resort.
Where to find credible sources
Researching is really hard. While a great source of information, the internet is also a great source of garbage information.
Make sure you know what sources are out there and how to distinguish between good and bad ones.
You may be able to find credible sources by starting with a combination of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. However, as you dig deeper into your topic, you’ll likely need to cite academic journals.
What are academic journals?
An academic journal is a publication that features scholarly articles on different fields of study. Articles in these publications are written by experts, professors, and researchers and go through a peer-review process before being published.
These publications generally have a very high standard for quality control. Therefore, they can be considered the most credible sources for research.
How to assess academic journal credibility
The first step to checking a journal’s credibility is to see if its articles are indexed in academic databases. If they are, the journal is considered reputable by the publishing community.
From there, other factors come into play:
- Has the journal retracted many articles? If so, that might suggest a lack of quality control.
- Are policies on its copyright and peer review accessible? If not, that could mean poor transparency regarding the journal’s processes.
- Are the “About” and “Scope” pages explained in detail? If not, that could indicate disorganization or a lack of focus.
- Does the author have more than one by-line under their name? If so, then it’s likely they have some experience in this field, making them an authority.
- Have other scholars cited the author’s work? If so, other scholars find their work valuable enough to cite.
Resources to find credible sources
The internet is a great tool for research, but don’t forget to check the credibility of sources. Valuable resources include Google Scholar, Open Educational Resources like OER Commons, and your university library.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a search tool for many disciplines and sources, including peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, articles from academic publishers, universities, and other scholarly organizations.
It’s an easy and simple way to find reputable sources relevant to your research.
Open Educational Resources
Open educational resources (OER) refer to educational materials made publicly available in a public domain or through an open license. These materials are free to use and re-share without legal penalty.
OER Commons is a popular public digital library of open educational resources. With hundreds of thousands of resources available, teachers can search for the material they need and share what they’ve created with a global community of educators.
Your campus library
Your campus library is another valuable resource for academic information. With access to thousands of journals and books and expert librarians who know how to navigate them all, libraries are still a researcher’s best friend.
Other online sources
Interdisciplinary sources include:
Mathematics and science-based sources include:
Humanities and social science sources include:
Checklist to verify your source’s credibility
Ask yourself the following questions when you want to verify the credibility of a source you might be thinking of citing:
- Is it from a website ending in .edu, .org, or .gov?
- Does the URL contain the organization’s name that published it (e.g., nytimes.com, hbr.org, congress.gov)?
- Is there a date on which the content was published or last updated? Is it current enough for your topic?
- Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor? Is it a valid and credible organization?
- Do other credible sources cite this source or its author? Are the citations easy to track down?
- Is the page free from spelling and grammatical errors?
- Does their source have a bias?
- Is the information provided in context and with enough detail to be helpful?
FAQs
What is a credible source?
A credible source is one that you can trust to include in your research. The source is legitimate and verified.
How do you know a source is credible?
Use the CRAAP acronym to identify credible sources: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.
What is the most credible source?
Primary sources are considered the most credible as they have direct evidence to supplement them.
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