Credentials/Who Wrote it?
- Is the author(s) listed?
- Affiliation- are they a professional researcher/faculty? (Look for university or research center next to their name in the article)
Peer Reviewed?
- Is the journal peer-reviewed? (Use peer-reviewed checkbox in Search at UW and Databases to make sure?
- If the article is peer-reviewed, is it a meaningful article? Pieces less than 1-2 pages are usually book reviews, conference presentation summaries, or editorials. These aren't the best sources, even if they are peer-reviewed.
- If you're not sure if a journal is peer-reviewed, look at the "about us" or "editorial review" section of the journal's website. It will usually be mentioned there. It will also have a purple "peer-reviewed" flag in Search at UW.
Substantial?
- Look for the words "quantitative" and "empirical" studies.
- Is the article a brief summary or is it presenting an original idea/research?
- Articles presenting original research tend to have these parts:
- ​Abstract/summary at the top of the article (These are a HUGE time saver to see what the article is about before reading, by the way!)
- Literature review of other research and/or citations of other research
- Methods/Explanation of research conducted
- Data (charts, diagrams, statistics)
