How to Evaluate Sources

Evaluating the Author of a Magazine or Newspaper Article

Whenever you use a source in your research writing project, it's important that you know its author. In this demonstration, we'll follow student writer Aaron Batty as he evaluates an article from the news source BBC News.

If your source is a newspaper or weekly newsmagazine like Time, Newsweek, or U.S. News & World Report, the author of your article is likely to be a reporter, not always a famous name, and probably not a world-renowned authority. Some magazines do, however, feature some articles by experts, and most magazines have a good reputation for checking their facts carefully and presenting a range of opinions.

If you are in doubt about the author's credentials, you might do a quick search for the author on a Web search engine to determine whether he or she has published other articles or is a recognized authority in the field. You can also check whether he or she is listed in your library's catalog or included in Who's Who, Contemporary Authors, or specialized reference works such as American Men and Women of Science.

In the case of the BBC News that Aaron was working with, no author was listed. Aaron searched the BBC News Online Web site and at the bottom of the page that contained the article, he found a link titled "News Sources."

As you can see, this link told him that the article he found was probably written by a team of journalists based out of London, or possibly a writer in one of the BBC's specialist units. Aaron decided that if his source was a less respected source than the BBC, he might want to know more information about the specific author and would possibly consider using another source.

Because Aaron couldn't find more information about who wrote the article, he moved on to evaluating the publisher of the article. If you are unable to find an author for an article, you may want to proceed to Evaluating the Publisher of a Magazine or Newspaper Article.

When you do locate the author of an article you find in your research, you should find out as much as you can about the author's affiliations, credentials, and potential bias. You might do so by searching for the author on the Web. An increasing number of authors have created home pages on which they list information about themselves, such as their educational background, professional experience, and interests. To explore for bias, ask where the author is coming from. Where are his or her allegiances? Is the bias hidden or stated? Do you need to look for a balancing viewpoint or approach?

Click on the Continue button to view a demonstration of evaluating the publisher of the article.