How to evaluate articles · Evaluating · Help & how-to

Authority/authorship

Who is the author and what is their expertise in the subject area? Have they written on the same subject before?
Are they affiliated with a research institution?
Who is the publisher and what are their credentials?

When was the article published?
Do you only need the most recent articles? If so, you may choose to limit your search by date.

The contents of scholarly articles are summarized in the abstract. Read the abstract to make sure that the article is related to your research topic.

Is the article written to prove something (empirical research), persuade the reader, or describe a phenomenon? An abstract typically states the purpose of the article.
Is the paper scholarly (peer-reviewed)?

Does the article provide a detailed list of references? Scholarly and peer-reviewed research articles always include a bibliography or reference list of works consulted by the author and have clear in-text citations or footnotes about the sources used in the article.
Sources must be clearly indicated. There should be no question about who is responsible for the information, and where the information is coming from.
Avoid articles that contain spelling or grammatical errors.

Be aware of any bias on the part of the author or publisher, especially from non-scholarly sources such as newspaper editorials and opinion pieces.