# Evaluating Academic Sources

Source evaluation is the process of **critically evaluating information** in relation to your EE in order to determine if it is **appropriate** for your research question.

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Understanding how to assess the **credibility of the information** you come across in your EE research is essential.
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As your EE is an **academic research paper** you need to ensure you are using a **range of quality resources**.  These will vary from subject to subject but ensuring your sources are credible is important across all subjects.

![](https://2487658792-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MDolGjlJO15_RSEJJjl%2F-MaPnfmrFfKAi8UV205H%2F-MaPwbm8jLO1rJa6SyOP%2Fshutterstock_1373266784.jpeg?alt=media\&token=1ae70cda-3e3a-4cee-af03-6b1d7e2aa29a)

The following questions can be used to help you **evaluate** each source:

* **Who** wrote it? Is it scholarly or non-scholarly?
* **When** was it written and/or published? Is it up to date?
* Does it contain any **evidence or information** that you can check?
* Do you have other sources that **support** the content of this source?
* Is it **biased** or **impartial** and does this matter for this source? (For example, advertising material on a website is expected to be biased while a newspaper article should be more objective.)
* What was the **purpose** of the publication?

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Remember that you can **ask your EE supervisor for help and support**.
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The following video gives you more information about evaluating academic sources for essays and assignments. Give the C.R.A.A.P. test a try! :slight\_smile: 

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With the current situation due to COVID-19 you may be finding it difficult to access physical library resources and books.
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&#x20;Therefore, you may need to rely on Internet research more than you typically should for your EE. There is a kind of ‘hierarchy’ of domain names that can be used as a general guide of reliability with education (or .edu) websites usually being the most reliable.

**.edu** stands for **education**

**.ac** stands for **academic**

**.gov** stands for **government**

**.org** stands for **organisation**

**.com** stands for **commercial**

**.net** stands for **network**

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**Credible sources lead to credible academic writing.**
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