Facts have a way of dominating research. Everything you research needs to be factual—based on published facts that support your topic and help you prove what you are exploring without the shadow of a doubt. Every remarkable piece of daunting data, fascinating fact, and timely tidbit you find has a purpose in your research and, with any evidence you uncover, you want to corroborate your findings. In other words, you want to find other documents that have reported the same information as the original source, so you can verify that the information you will be reporting is true. There's nothing worse than reporting factual information that appears correct, only to find out later that it isn't.Some published "facts" may not be facts at all and should not be misconstrued as such. Statements of facts are generally used in all documents, perhaps used to draw some conclusion or make a substantial statement based on evidence given elsewhere. Again, such statements should be factually based, and be sure that such statements attribute an original source that you can verify.In the mainstream media today, assumptions, inferences, opinions, and editorializing are rampant and confused with fact. This is often the case when politicians make a key statement to the press or a special guest tries to persuade viewers of a certain position on a cable news program. Many times they will make statements that are mere opinion or twisted versions of the truth. Assumptions, inferences, opinions, and editorializing can be unrelated to the truth if you find no evidence in your research to support such claims.Beware of biased reporting as well. Many popular publications publish slanted, biased articles to promote their viewpoints. This practice is common in magazines, such as The New Republic, which promotes a liberal point of view, or National Review, which promotes a staunchly conservative point of view. Articles that appear in these publications tend to focus on issues and causes near and dear to these factions.Similarly, be suspicious of documents that overgeneralize and lack sufficient evidence or reach conclusions too quickly. Weigh the importance of the material and form your own judgment of whether it offers sound reasoning based on solid evidence instead of hasty generalizations. Remember that evidence of truth matters the most when considering facts in your research.Scholarly journals offer more reliable evidence than popular magazines because the writers fully document all sources, and their articles are published through university presses and publishers that rigorously screen their articles to meet specific standards of evidence.The above steps are very important to evaluating your research. Remember the following criteria to be sure that the information you have accumulated can be used.PurposeThe purpose of the information is critical to the success of your research and your paper. Does the purpose of the material you have uncovered fit the purpose of your topic? Also, what is the purpose of the document? It is it to inform? To persuade? To present opinions? To report research? To demonstrate any bias?You should always question the motives of the author. Why did the author write the article on this particular subject? Did he or she have some hidden agenda? Was the article or material published by an organization with a particular purpose? Is the intention to promote a particular point of view or a cause? Is the material fair and balanced in its view?Critically analyzing the purpose of your research will help you define what will be critical to your paper, and what will not.AccuracyWhen analyzing the materials you have found, you want to examine every document closely to see that the author supports his or her statements with facts, data, and references to research. Are the facts verifiable? Is there a bibliography? Documentation adds to the authenticity of the material, and also makes the author's claim credible.It's important, then, to examine every statement made by the author and verify that his or her statements are not just opinion, but substantiated fact. When an author makes reference to a source, check out the bibliography to see if that source is listed. If you are doubtful about the credibility of the statement made, you can then check that source yourself to see if the evidence cited is actually presented.Evaluating Web documents is equally important. To determine accuracy, check the document to see if an author's name is listed or is credited, and what qualifies them to write about your topic. There is a big difference between author and webmaster. The author is the person who researched and wrote the document; the webmaster is responsible for creating, updating, and overseeing the Web site and is not liable for its content.When credit is not provided, you should find out more about the group, company, or organization that sponsors the site by clicking on the "About Us" icon to determine if they are reputable and trustworthy. If you cannot locate this information anywhere on the site and no site map exists, then consider e-mailing the author. You can locate an e-mail address and other contact information, by clicking on the "Contact Us" icon. If this is unsuccessful, as a last resort you can e-mail the webmaster.With Web documents, as with any published document, consider the purpose of the document and why it was produced in the first place.AuthorityWhen reviewing a book, article, Internet site, or any published reference, you should question the authority of the material as part of your critical analysis. You want to consider the expertise of the author and question his or her credentials. Who published the document? Does the author have the expertise on the subject? What makes him or her qualified?The answers to your questions will emerge if you dig a little. Review the material and see if it tells you anything about the author's credentials. Perhaps the author has written several articles about the subject or has credits that indicate he or she is an authority in that particular field. If you are still unconvinced, check a bibliographical source—one noted in the document and referred to in the bibliography—to determine the authenticity of the article. Another step is to critically review the material and see if the evidence presented is authoritative and appropriately cited—in other words, relevant facts and testimony are credited—throughout to support its point of view.This third step can be problematic when analyzing many Internet sources. Not all Internet sites provide the identity, credentials of the author, or producer of the page. If you are not sure where the Web document was published, simply check the URL for the Web address and location. You should question the reliability of a source that does not give you this information and not use it as a source if it does not pass this important test.RelevancyBesides the authority of your research, you want to examine its relevance. How relevant is your research? Is it appropriate to your topic? Does it address your objective? Is the content vital to your topic?When researching your topic, you will find some research more suitable than others, and need to decide which is appropriate to your topic. Determining the value of your research can help you to pinpoint what's important, what to keep, and what to cast aside.To evaluate the relevance of books, magazines, and journal articles, simply read through the document to see if it looks promising. With books, you can tell right away by reading the introduction and table of contents. The introduction provides a complete overview of what the book offers; the table of contents, a complete list of topics. The index, in the back pages of the book, also can be a valuable resource. It gives names, terms, and page numbers of topics and items detailed in the book.If you require more information about the book that you are considering, examining book reviews will shed further proof of the book's value, reputation, and validity. Reviews, published in hundreds of popular magazines and journals, can found by searching several indexes offered through most libraries.Book Review Digest (1905–present) features reviews of thousands of books annually. Book Review Online is a bimonthly index of reviews from 225 magazines and journals. Index to Book Reviews in Humanities, another annual index, offers reviews published in humanities periodicals. Index to Book Reviews in Social Sciences is a yearly index of reviews published in social science periodicals; Current Book Review Citations features book citations of reviews published in more than 1,000 periodicals, updated annually. Booklist is a monthly periodical that reviews new books published throughout the year. Check with your library for availability.With magazine and journal articles, read the first few paragraphs of the article to determine if the article focuses on your subject in the manner you had hoped. If you are still uncertain, then examine the entire article and see what the author highlights in each paragraph and look for keywords that sum up the topic of each paragraph and, more importantly, the points the author is covering in the article. You will know in a short amount of time whether the article is worthwhile or not.Abstracts of articles and books provide brief overviews or summaries about the contents of an article and reading them can speed up the process to determine which books and articles are most relevant to your cause.TimelinessThe timeliness of your research is also important. How current is your material? The more current your source material is, the more relevant it can be to your topic. Older material may be just as valuable. It can provide a historical perspective and transformation of your topic over a specific period of time. But, generally, when researching and writing about a topic, you want to find the most recent evidence to support your claim.To critically analyze the currency of your material, first look at the date of the publication. When was your material published? How old is this material? Is it timely and relevant? Online catalogs, indexes, or abstracts usually list the date when a book, newspaper or magazine article, journal article, or other reference work was published. Reliable Web sites also provide this information, albeit differently. The date an item was published or when the information was last updated may be posted on the Web site. This information usually is at the end of the document.Be careful using old and outdated Web sites where information has not been updated regularly. If a site has too many dead links, it is a clue that the site is not updated. The information itself may be not current enough for your needs and the site less reliable as a potential source.ObjectivityThe role of a researcher is to remain objective and unbiased at all times, which can be difficult. The point in researching your topic is to present a balanced view of the subject you are exploring and to inform others of your findings with the same objectivity and impartiality.Analyzing your research involves judging its objectivity. It's important never to take the information you read from your research as the absolute truth. Instead, question your research as you review it. How objective is it? What is the tone of the document? Is it reasonable, logical, and presented fairly? Are opposing views offered? Is there any noticeable bias?Be careful of documents that offer no opposing view. Bias and lack of objectivity is often a problem with Web sites where the information is a mask for advertising or promoting a particular product or cause. In such cases, the opinions expressed may be positioned for the purpose of selling on you on their service, cause, or whatever they are advocating. Material such as this may demonstrate a hostile tone and be highly opinionated.Overresearching one side of your topic presents the same danger. You will end up creating an imbalance in your research. Sometimes a researcher creates bias in their research accidentally.Research featuring broad claims or sweeping statements with no strong facts to support the claims should also be carefully scrutinized. The more objective your research is, the more balanced your topic will be in the end. Even when taking a stance on a particular issue, you can always strengthen your topic by examining the opposing view.CoverageHow well does the document cover your subject? Is the material too general or not specific enough?Research that offers more in-depth coverage is generally more useful than articles that skimp on details and simply provide a basic overview or condensed view of your topic. The more compelling evidence, quotable sources, and supporting material that you can glean from your research, the more authoritative your paper will be on the subject.Following these steps will not ensure that your source material is appropriate, accurate, and solid, but that it provides the necessary evidence to make your essay, term paper, or written project a success.Using WikipediaWikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), an enormous online encyclopedia offering millions of articles, each written by anonymous contributors who cite published sources (usually those available on the Internet), has become a popular resource, especially for researchers seeking quick information or those just beginning to examine a topic. Past problems with online tampering of the content as well as reports of erroneous information in its entries have raised suspicions of Wikipedia’s overall credibility. While Wikipedia has instituted greater oversight over the content of its site to prevent future abuses and a growing number of librarians have become more accepting in using and recommending the site as a point of reference, until Wikipedia has gained the universal seal of approval by librarians and library associations as a coveted research tool, users should continue to use extreme caution in using this site. Sources whose authors are identifiable and whose entries are rigorously peer-reviewed are always preferable. Nonetheless, since Wikipedia articles often cite other published sources, Wikipedia can be useful resource for finding relevant articles on a particular subject, though researchers will still have to take care to evaluate the credibility of each article cited in a Wikipedia entry.
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