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.
- 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