Is this a good source?

Many students are unsure about the evaluation of sources, and ask us if a specific source is a good source. This is a question that is difficult to answer. Assessing the general reliability of a source, for example by using questions and checklists is a good starting point. You can for example use questions from a source criticism checklist.

Source criticism questions 512px-Checklist_Flat_Icon_Vector.svg.png

  • Who created the information?
  • Where is the information published?
  • When was the information published? Is it still current?
  • What is the purpose of the source? Has it been published to inform, persuade or sell something? 
  • How did the creator of the source gathered the information? By an own study or from other sources?
  • What does the source state? Does the information seem to be correct?

A more in depth description of the questions can be found on the library's webpages. 

If you consider using information produced by chatbots based on generative AI as a source, you will find out that several of the questions can't be answered. You can't find a creator of the information, and no publication date. In general, there will be no information about how the information was gathered. As a result of this, the reliability is low, and chatbots are not useful as sources in an academic context. You can read more about AI and information retrieval on the library's webpages. 

However, going through the questions is often not sufficient, and it is not possible to decide if it is a good source without more context. In this video you will learn more about how you can decide if a source is a good source in a given situation.

View video with transcript in KTH Play

Essentials of evaluating sources

These four questions can help you decide if a source is good for your purpose.

  • Have you found other sources? How does this source compare to the other sources? Prefer the most scientific or most reliable source if everything else is equal.
  • What kind of information are you citing? Some information is only available in non-scientific sources, and in such cases the non-scientific sources are fine to use.
  • Have you found the original source of the information? Prefer the original source of the information
  • Have you found the best available version of the source? Some sources are available in different versions. Make sure you choose the most reliable version.