Unit 2 - Research and organization
Criteria for selecting sources
How do I choose my sources?
It is fundamentally important to evaluate and mindfully choose your scientific sources. Not everything that looks scientific is actually scientific.
Here are a few thumb rules to help you recognize whether a publication is reliable:
Does the author really exist? What about the publication?
Was the work really published by the author?
Who published the source? Is this person part of a recognized scientific institution?
Where was the source published? Is the publisher or journal recognized? Are there other scientifically recognized authors at the same editor?
Is the source mentioned and discussed in other scientific publications?
When was the source published? Are these results possibly already outdated?
How "sensational" is the text? Is the discussion factual or rather emotional? In the second case, the publication is most probably unscientific.
If you have any questions, please contact your subject librarian at the ThULB or your own university library.