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Lineberger Memorial Library

Evaluating and Citing Information

 

It is important to evaluate all of your resources (books, articles, podcasts, videos, etc.).

Think about the following:

Purpose                   
What is the source trying to do: entertain? persuade? sell? inform?   
Authority    
Who's responsible for the information? author? publisher? Are references included? 
Accuracy
Is the information correct?  true?  How does it compare with others?
Objectivity
Is it inherently biased?  Are there other sides to the story?
Currency   
Is the information up-to-date?  timely?
Coverage
How much detail is included?  What's excluded?

 

For more information, consult the USM Library’s Evaluating Web Resources guide, or Evaluating Web Pages (UC Berkley) for more in-depth evaluation criteria.

Citation Generators and Style Guides

For online journal articles, see if the database offers a formatted citation in the style you need. Check it for accuracy, because the vendor makes no guarantees, and formatting can change when you copy/ paste into a new file.

 

LRU Citation Styles Guide for Using APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian Format