Considering how specialists expect fake news and false information to worsen, finding reliable material to serve as research paper sources is critical. Citing your sources in your homework is an essential skill that your college professors will expect from you once you enter university, so you must sharpen your sourcing skills as early as you get your first research paper.
However, depending on the topics you must cover, the large number of references (or lack thereof) at your disposal can be intimidating. You would need to figure out where to start, freeze up, and create a haphazard paper based on nothing concrete.
It’s almost as if you’re telling your teacher to take your word for it. While that can be enough for a personal essay, research papers are different.
When making claims about anything you write about, you’ll need to ensure they are based on facts and that you didn’t just pull them out of thin air. In this post, we discuss everything you need to know about finding reliable information for your homework.
We also provide tips on avoiding misinformation that will reduce the credibility of your work. Take a look at our comprehensive guide to sourcing your homework correctly.
Understand the CRAAP Method
How’s that for a memorable acronym?
CRAAP stands for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.
You can apply these factors when assessing the reliability of the information you use for your homework.
Here’s a closer look at each factor:
- Currency: This factor is about the timeliness of the information — as in how current it is. It has nothing to do with money. When confirming the reliability of your sources, check their publication or posting date. If you notice that the information is from several years ago, there are chances that new data has arrived since then, making the post obsolete. However, the publishers could have updated or revised their content, so check for any dates on the post.
- Relevance: How important is the information of your source to your research paper? Relevance is about the importance of the information to your specific needs. In addition, you must check whether the book, paper, video, or website offers information at an appropriate level. Some paper sources may be too advanced for your project, while others are too elementary for your needs. You may need to look at several sources talking about your topic before choosing any.
- Authority: Is the author of your source of information credible enough to speak about the topic you’re researching about? What credentials can they show? Apart from the author, check the publisher and sponsors associated with the information you are looking up. Sometimes, information from a research paper that the U.S. government or a private company sponsors is not entirely free of bias. As such, it’s important to remain vigilant when choosing which to cite.
- Accuracy: This factor is about the content’s correctness and truthfulness. You’ll need to check where the information comes from and if there is any evidence to support it throughout the post. Moreover, you’ll need to check whether the evidence it cites has been peer-reviewed. Accurate information is also usually verifiable, whether you have personal knowledge about the subject or other paper sources that talk about it already. A simple way to confirm accuracy is if the source has no typographical errors, so you can assume it has undergone several edits.
- Purpose: Why is the information available in your source in the first place? Perhaps the publisher is selling something. Maybe they are an educational group that is dedicated to teaching. Pay attention to the language in your source so you can determine whether it is presenting fact, opinion, or propaganda. You might also get a better idea of a publisher or author’s purpose if you’re looking at a website and they have an about page.
Note that the CRAAP method is only one test that you can use when checking your paper sources. Other evaluation methods exist, such as the RADAR method (which stands for rationale, authority, date, accuracy, relevance), asking the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why), and the SIFT test (stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, and trace claims made).
The point of understanding an evaluation method is to equip yourself with critical thinking skills so you won’t just lift information from whichever source you find. While an article may be written expertly and easily digestible, try to consider that the author intentionally presented it that way for a reason. You must identify that reason and judge whether you can trust them.
Check Credible Sources First
One of the most important tips we can offer to avoid misinformation is to look at sources with a reputation for credibility. Some paper sources may seem reliable at first glance, but that’s not always the case. However, there are places that have been operating long enough to become established sources of good information. Here are some examples.
Journal Articles
More often than not, you can immediately tell that a journal article is a credible source. If you are looking at one online, it usually offers valuable analytics and statistics, such as how many times people cited the article and whether or not it has been peer-reviewed.
You can apply the CRAAP test when evaluating a journal article’s credibility. Sure, it may extend your time to complete your homework, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. You might end up citing an article that’s over a decade old and disproven.
Many online tools can help you find credible journal articles. They simplify the search process and include relevant information that may help you with your homework. Check out the following websites:
News Sources
News articles can be great sources of credible information. However, with multiple news outlets telling similar stories, it can be confusing which ones you should cite as your paper sources. You must be extra cautious when identifying biased language and tone in articles.
Applying the CRAAP method to the news articles you find for your project will also be helpful. See if the journalist who wrote the article you’re citing has any authority or extensive experience in the topic they cover.
Some credible news outlets include Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. If you need to look up old news articles, try searching online archives or checking your local library to see if they provide microfilm.
Websites
When researching online for your homework, remember that the internet is a bigger place than you can imagine. Many sources present unchecked information, and it’s nearly impossible to gauge how much online information is bogus or true.
It’s safe to say that fake information online exists since it’s easy for anyone to post something just because they believe they’re right. Moreover, photo manipulation and video editing can even make claims seem reliable. Once again, vigilance is important when citing online information.
Some credible paper sources for research purposes include Encyclopedia Britannica, Science.gov, The World Factbook, U.K. Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, looking at the website’s domain can help weigh its credibility. Check if it uses .edu or .gov extensions.
Final Words
Research papers require time and effort to ensure that what you’re turning in for a grade is true. While finding reliable information for your project’s citations might seem like a chore, it’s a critical skill that you must learn early on as it becomes useful in higher education and even outside of academia.
Essentially, finding reliable information for homework is about thinking critically and looking up the source of your information. One method to consider is the CRAAP test, which can help you evaluate a source’s credibility by checking how current, relevant, authoritative, accurate, and purposeful its content is.
In addition, it’s important to understand that there already are established channels for reliable information that you can access online. These include academic search engines, long-running news outlets, and specific websites. Once you master the basics, you can get creative and start finding research paper sources that set you apart. Review the tips we presented here to improve your citing skills!
FAQs
What are the five types of sources?
The five major types of sources are:
1. Academic journals
2. Books
3. Government reports and official documents
4. Online databases and websites.
5. The experts conducted interviews and surveys.
What sources should be used in a research paper?
It is important to choose reliable, relevant sources with authority on the topic. If you are choosing articles from a journal article, you should always choose peer-reviewed articles as they have much more credibility than online sources.
What is a source paper?
A source paper is also known as a source evaluation paper. It is an academic assignment in which the students are required to critically analyze and evaluate a specific source or variety of sources to determine their reliability, validity, and usefulness.
What are the different types of information sources?
The major types of information sources are:
1. Primary sources that provide a first-hand account of a topic.
2. Secondary sources that analyze or interpret primary sources.
3. Tertiary sources that provide summaries or overviews of a topic.
Sources
https://studyright.net/blog/research-paper-sources/
https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/ultimate-student-guide-to-finding-credible-sources/
https://www.statista.com/topics/3251/fake-news/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1015263/fake-news-worsening-us/
https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/craap
https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/c.php?g=285842&p=1906823