Study Toolbox: Critically Evaluating Articles

Investigating who the author is and their qualifications can help verify the quality of the information and the credibility of the article.

To judge the author’s credibility find out:

• Who is the author?
• What are the author’s qualifications?
• Is the author an expert in the topic presented in the article? 
• What else has the author written?
• Has the author been referenced by other authors?
• Is the author affiliated to an organisation or institution that promotes a particular point of view?
• Is the tone and style of writing factual?
• Are there any grammar and/or spelling errors?

To investigate the author’s credibility search for the author online and check academic databases to locate other articles by the author or if the author has been cited by other authors. 

Make sure to investigate the author’s area of expertise because if the author is writing on a subject in their field of study the article is more authoritative than an article written on a subject outside of the author’s expertise.  

Consider the tone, style and quality of the writing.  Inappropriate style and incorrect spelling/grammar may indicate the author’s poor credibility.

Articles are found in periodical publications and are published on a regular basis e.g. weekly, monthly or quarterly.  Periodical publications include newspapers, popular magazines, trade magazines and scholarly/academic journals.  It is important to identify which type of periodical publication an article comes from.

What does peer reviewed mean?

Video credited to McMaster Libraries.

McMaster Libraries. (2014, June 19). How library stuff works: Peer review [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4JJbkpLPQI

How to read a scholarly article...

Video credited to McMaster Libraries.

McMaster Libraries. (2015, August 25). How library stuff works: How to read scholarly articles [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6RiJLlzlk

It is essential to identify if an article is a primary or secondary source because they offer different types of information and perspectives. 

Currency asks the question ‘is the information current’?  It is important to know when an article was published.   Determining an article’s currency allows you to judge if it is up to date with current facts and opinions of a topic or if the information is out of date which may mean it is inaccurate and/or misleading. 

When judging the currency of an article it is important to take the topic into consideration.  Some topics such as those in the sciences require current information.  Whereas, other subjects such as history value older material as well as current material.

To discover an article’s currency consider the following questions:

• When was the article published?
• Is the information up to date, out of date or timeless?
• Is the article sufficiently up to date for your purpose?

When evaluating an article, it is important to investigate if the article is objective or if there is some form of bias.  Bias occurs when an author allows personal opinions, beliefs and/or values to influence how information is presented.  Bias inhibits impartial judgement leading to information being presented in a misleading and/or inaccurate way.

To investigate if an article is objective or biased ask the following questions:

• What is the purpose of this article?  Is it to persuade, to inform or to prove?
• Does the author present objective arguments or is the author expressing their biased opinion without evidence to back up this opinion?
• Is the author affiliated to an organisation or institution that promotes a particular viewpoint?  Is the author promoting this viewpoint in the article?
• Are alternative sides of the issue or topic presented?
• Are there any political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?
• Is the article in a journal or magazine that is political, an alternative press or sponsored by a company or an industry lobby group?  If yes, the publication may have an inherent bias towards a particular point of view that will impact articles printed in it.
• What is the objective of those involved in the publishing of the journal or magazine?  Does the article show a bias towards the publisher’s particular point of view? 

When evaluating an article for objectivity and bias check for a sound argument, supporting facts and references that include sources representing more than one point of view. 

Video credited to LIBCSU: North Carolina State University Libraries.

LIBCSU. (2015, June 10). Evaluating sources for credibility [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLTOVoHbH5c 

One of the critical steps in evaluating an article is questioning if the information is accurate.

To evaluate an article’s accuracy consider the following questions:

• Is the author affiliated with a known, respectable institution?
• Are references included to identify where any factual information and/or data comes from?
• Are the references used real, credible and relevant?
• Can you verify the information in another source?
• Is the information consistent with other authors’ findings on the same topic?
• Does the text follow basic rules of grammar, spelling and composition?
• Is a bibliography and/or reference list included?

Check the accuracy of information found in articles by checking the sources and references used and research the topic to compare the information with other reliable sources.  If you find factual errors, you may want to question the quality and accuracy of the article.