Evaluating sources

When you find a lot of books on your topic, you need to select the content which is important to your topic. To save your time, you need to evaluate the sources. Do not take notes at this stage.

1. Evaluating books Seeing the title is not enough to evaluate a book. You need to go through: Table of content: it provides you with an outline of the main headings and subheadings. Read only what you think is related to your topic.

2. The index: it gives a list of the names and terms used in the book and their page numbers. Scanning the index can be the most effective way of finding what you need in a short time.

The preface or introduction may provide you with an idea about the purpose of the book. The publication date is also important. Try to see if the book author is specialized. See what others have written about him.

2. Evaluating articles You need to skim the abstract of the article before going through it. The abstract tells you about the purpose of the article and summarizes the main points.

3. Internet sources Check if the content is provided by a university or a professional organization. If a material is produced by such sources, t hen it is reliable.

Preparing a list if references Preparing a list of books is beneficial in two ways: Keeping a record of the sources used so that you can go back and check them. Preparing the list of references at the end of your paper.

References rules There are strict rules which govern listing the references used in an academic work. At this stage, only note the necessary details about the source.

Note as follows: Full name of author (s): Family Title and subtitle (if any) Date of publication Place of publication (always a name of a city, not a country) Publisher Edition (if any) Page number of your quotation.

Examples

For an article Full name of article author (s) Article title and subtitle (if any) Date of publication Editor (s) Book title Place of publication (always a name of a city, not a country) Publisher Page number of your quotation.

Most information for referencing a book is found on the cover page and publishing page.

For a journal article Full name author (s) Date of publication Title and sub-title (between quotation marks) Title of periodical (italics) Volume and issue numbers Page numbers on which the article appears

For electronic sources Name of author (s) (if known) Date of publication / updating (if known) Title and sub-title of the file (article or essay) Web address Date of access to the file (the date you visited the website)