| Questions to ask |
How to determine the answer
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| Is it relevant to my research? |
This is the most important factor; if it isn't relevant, why use it? But it's a subjective question. Use your judgement: how does the content relate to my research question? Is there a way to make it relate?
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| Is it in a peer-reviewed journal? |
The full database record tells you if the journal is peer-reviewed.
You can also look up the journal title in UlrichsWeb. In the "Basic Description" look for the "Refereed" field.
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Does the article report on an empirical study (if that's the assignment)? |
Students sometimes cite book reviews, literature reviews, or other kinds of articles when they've been asked to cite empirical studies. To determine this factor, use your judgment; the abstract will make it clear. |
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Is it a journal article (vs.a dissertation or book)?
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SOme databases (e.g. PAI, Political Science Complete) specifie the format of each item; Google Scholar tells you if it’s a book; otherwise, you need to judge by the publication information
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Is it relatively recent?
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Self-evident. It’s okay to include older references if they are the classic ones to which many other articles refer. But you should try to find some more recent material, from the last 5-10 years if it’s available.
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What is the quality of the research itself, in terms of methodology, appropriate sample, etc.?
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You’re learning to evaluate that in this course.
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Does the author have a good reputation? The author's institution?
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It takes time to get a sense of this. If the author is very well-known and highly-published in the discipline, that's a plus. But an unknown or first-time author can do high-quality work and publish a high-quality article.
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How many times has the article been cited?
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You can look this up - Google Scholar provides a number (includes citations in books, and can include duplicates). PAI shows a number for how many times it’s been cited IN recent PAI records. You can also use Web of Science to get a measure of times cited.
Caveats: Very recent articles haven’t been out long enough to have been cited! And there can be reasons a problematic or controversial article might be cited a lot -- so, a high citation number is not always an indicator of high quality.)
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Being in a “good journal”
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You might recognize the journal’s name from this research guide.
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