Scholarly Authority
A. Author
B. Date of Publication
When was the source published? How have the ideas about your topic changed over time?
C. Book Publisher
If the source is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.
D. Title of Journal
Is this a scholarly or a popular journal? This distinction is important because it indicates different levels of complexity in conveying ideas. If it is scholarly, is the journal peer-reviewed?
Adapted from Cornell University's Critically Analyzing Information Sources: Critical Appraisal
and Analysis http://guides.library.cornell.edu/criticallyanalyzing
1. Select one of the authors above, or search for an author of your choice.
2. Find an interesting article that has been CITED more than 5 times. What is the title of that article? Can you connect to the full text of this article? If you can connect, look at the references that your author cites.
3. Go back to your MLAIB search, and look at the articles that have CITED this article. What kind of conversations are taking place? Are there connections between these articles and authors?
4. Learn more about the article's author and journal. What are the author's affiliations? Have they written other articles that are indexed in MLAIB on the same topic? Look up the journal in MLAIB's Directory of Periodicals. Where is it published?
5. Paste the title of this article in to Google Scholar. How many times has it been cited there?
6. Find any book in Tripod ABOUT this author or topic. What’s the call number?