Evaluating Resources

Utilizing various resources for graduate level writing is crucial to establishing credibility. In order to substantiate assertions of opinion or to prove facts, one must use a variety of supporting resources. Evaluating available resources is essential to conducting quality research and determining information that is useful, valid, and reliable.

When searching for relevant material to use for a given objective, it is optimal to investigate information from a variety of sources. Websites, magazine articles, and journals are all adequate materials for background information; however, scholarly articles, those that have been subjected to a peer review, are optimal for proving validity of information and assuring quality of research. Once information is deemed useful to one’s objective, an evaluation of the material can be used to establish whether it is valid and reliable. Qualifying each resource can be helpful in accessing value, by evaluating the following: Author, publication date, purpose, resource type (scholarly or popular), credibility of author, objectivity of author, is the resource primary or secondary, and references (Appendix).

To prove the validity of a resource, one must look at the background of the author. The legitimacy of the author’s credibility can be determined by such things as the following: Education, field experience, and validity of the references used in their original cited body of work. Citing resources in the References section of a paper according to APA guidelines is essential to graduate level writing. These guidelines have been created to streamline the process of investigation of resources, beyond the paper in which they are cited. If cited incorrectly, one’s composition may be deemed illegitimate and become susceptible to accusations of plagiarism.

As previously implied, the most immediately established reliable sources are those that are scholarly. Other sources can only be proven reliable after evaluation. Sources such as “Wikipedia” or other collaboratively unreferenced works should be used sparingly in graduate papers because they often cannot be verified. “Wikis are collaborative websites where anybody can edit and publish” (Konieczny, 2007). These should only be used if a student is instructed to use an unreferenced source (Konieczny).

Regardless of the topic of a graduate paper, devising research for relevant information to support one’s assertions is not all that is necessary. It is imperative to further investigate each resource to evaluate the usefulness, validity, reliability and credibility of the supporting information. If the proper steps are taken to qualify, evaluate, and reference each source, quality research papers prevail.

References

Konieczny, P. (January, 2007). Wikis andwWikipedia as a teaching tool. Retrieved September 21, 2007, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_07/article02.htm