Art 100W Tutorial: Skill #3

3. Evaluate sources appropriately
(how can you tell what's accurate and reliable? what should you ask yourself about your sources-especially if they're web sites?)

Print sources

• Book: publication by reputable publisher implies evaluation
• Article: publication by reputable publisher implies evaluation
  • scholarly journals are especially good if refereed or peer-reviewed
  • you can find out if a journal is refereed by looking in Ulrich's Periodicals Database
• You still need to use critical thinking skills to evaluate content--there's junk in print, too

Internet sources

• All bets are off--could be great information; could be junk, inaccurate or plagiarized. Know what to look for!
• It may look good, but that doesn't mean you can trust the content.
  • The Onion
• Museum or University sources are usually the most reliable, but--
  • if it's a University site, it may be a student paper (which could be good or bad)
• Some Internet sources, especially those you get through the Library, are electronic versions of reliable print sources (example: Grove Art is based on Dictionary of Art; most online periodical indexes started out as print)

See the Evaluating Information web page for more information

Go to Skill #4 >>> or Back to Intro

Comments and questions to Edith Crowe edith.crowe@sjsu.edu
Last Updated 19 April 2004
Created 10 February 2003