Critical Reading Skills and the Research Paper
Evaluating Authors, Publishers, and Possible Research Sources
Writing an argumentative research paper involves using quotations from sources you cite that serve to support and substantiate your thesis. Quotations from other authors lend credibility to the thesis and viewpoints you advocate on a topic. It’s important, therefore, that the writers you cite are qualified to write on the subject matter. The writers whose words you quote to advance your thesis should be objective in their point of view and reliable in their presentation of the subject matter. You should consider, too, not only the objectivity of the writers, but the objectivity of the writers’ publisher, as well. Lastly, to effectively advance your argument, you need sources that are appropriate (relevant) to the topic. Further, those sources need to be current enough (recentness) to be useful in developing and supporting your ideas. To review, the six factors you should be critically evaluating for each potential source considered as a support in your research paper are:
1. the author’s qualifications
2. the author’s objectivity
3. the author’s reliability
4. the publisher’s objectivity
5. the relevancy of the source
6. how recent the source is
The Writer’s Qualifications
When critically evaluating an author, first consider the qualifications of the author. What professional credentials does she have? What academic degrees or titles does she hold that render her particularly qualified to write on the topic? What experience has the writer had with the topic? Is she an authority in the field in which you are writing your research paper? Has she written other articles or books on the topic? The names of authorities in any particular field often recur in bibliographies / works cited of other source materials on that topic. Check these other sources to see if the author whose work you are considering is cited.
To find out information about the author’s qualifications check the following informational works:
-Who’s Who
-Contemporary Authors
-Biographical Index
-Dictionary of American Scholars
-Book Review Digest
Author and Publisher Objectivity
A second factor to consider in evaluating the merits of authors is objectivity. Most writers express viewpoints; their writing is not entirely objective. In fact, with the exception of encyclopedia articles, and similar sources that are purely informational, finding authors who maintain a completely neutral stance on a topic is near impossible and very unlikely. However, should an author appear overly subjective, or overly biased in her opinions, you may elect to abandon usage of her article or book as a potential source for your research paper.
By consulting the sources mentioned previously, as well as reading the preface and introduction of a potential source, you may be able to discern bias or evidence that demonstrates possible affiliations (political, economic, religious, philosophical, other.) These affiliations or biased viewpoints may render the author’s treatment of the topic too subjective for your use.
Consider too, the actual text itself. Look carefully at the writer’s tone and choice of words. Does the writer seem to be using an emotional tone, rather than a tone that is indicative of logic? Do the words the writer uses to describe, develop, and discuss the subject matter have emotional connotations? Are words, phrases, and ideas expressed in a manner that attempt to elicit reader reaction to the material based on something other than rationale thought? Most convincing arguments rely primarily on an appeal to the reader’s logic, rather than an overly emotional appeal. This does not, however, preclude the possibility that the writer might use some emotional appeal in her argument. Keep in mind though, that emotions deal with the subjective realm, whereas logic deals with the realm of objectivity. Try to discern just how much subjectivity is present in the potential source. Will the subjectivity of the potential source be damaging as a support to your argument? Will it be effective in supporting and advancing your thesis, even if there is subjectivity present? Perhaps you might wish to reconsider it as a source?
In further examining the issue of an author’s objectivity and stance, try to discover the answers to these questions: What explicit information does the author present about other viewpoints or theories on the subject? Does the author agree or disagree with other viewpoints or theories presented? A truly objective stance necessitates presentation of more than just the writer’s point of view on the subject.
Finally, in considering objectivity, it is necessary to consider the publisher of the potential research paper source. Does the publisher have any particular perspective you are aware of? Is the publisher a reputable commercial or scholarly publisher? Or is the publisher of the book the author herself, what’s known as a “vanity” publisher?
In determining the objectivity of a periodical article, consult Magazines for Libraries.
This publication details which groups or organizations publish which periodicals. This could prove extremely helpful in considering the objectivity of a source.
The Author’s Reliability
A third important factor in critically evaluating an author is the factor of reliability. One way to determine the reliability of a source is to consider if the writer uses any support as evidence. Read over the potential source to decide if the writer makes general statements without offering specific supporting details. Does the writer draw conclusions that appear to be based on general statements? Does the writer make assumptions about ideas, and accept them as true, expecting you the reader to accept these assumptions as true, without explaining them? Be leery of using a source that offers little specific support.
If the source does offer statistical data as support for its assumptions and generalizations, examine how reliable the author’s use of this information is. Is the data interpreted accurately and favorably by the author? You may need to consult outside sources (Perhaps your instructor?) to determine how appropriately statistical data has been used.
A most crucial evaluative measure of the author’s reliability is the documentation the writer presents. The writing piece should offer the reader documentation for all quoted matter, all statistical data, and all facts that are not common knowledge. Common knowledge is that information which can be found in five or more printed sources. (For example, Columbus discovered America in 1492.) The forms of documentation a writer should provide include both in text citation or footnotes in the actual text, and a complete works cited or bibliography at the end of the work. A source which provides this documentation is one which offers the reader a high degree of reliability.
Relevance and Timeliness of a Source
The last two factors to be considered in critically evaluating a potential source are the factors of how relevant the potential source is to your topic, and how recent the potential source is.
To determine the relevancy of a source to your topic, begin by examining the title (and subtitle) of the source. Next, check to see if there is a table of contents. Does the table of contents list chapter titles (suggestive of major topics) that might seem useful to you? Paging through the source, look to see if there are any graphic representations (maps, charts, diagrams, etc.) within the body of the source or in the appendix of the book.
A very quick way to discern relevance is to check the index of a source. Scan the index quickly, looking for key words to see if these topics are discussed in the source. Lastly, don’t forget to read through any bibliographic/ works cited information provided, which might offer additional sources of information for your paper.
The easiest factor to evaluate in determining the worth of a potential source for use in your research paper is the factor of how recent the source is. If your topic is very current, you may need to use only those sources that are very recent.
Consider if the source you contemplate utilizing is contemporary enough for your topic. Is your topic one that necessitates using very current materials, such as the topic of cloning? Check the publication date to find out how up-to-date a potential source is. In doing a preliminary search of topics, you’ll find that most libraries now list materials by topic on the computer according to the date of publication, with the most recent materials listed first. This is a very helpful feature in narrowing your search to recent sources.
In sum, those sources most helpful to you in writing a research paper will be those that are most effective in enabling you to advance your thesis. Utilizing your critical reading skills to determine the merits of a prospective source- the author’s qualifications, objectivity, reliability, the publisher’s objectivity, and the factors of relevancy and timeliness, are essential to successfully preparing for and writing an effective research paper. Good luck!
Prepared by N. Justman: R5/06
EGL ZIP A: Critical Reading Skills and the Research Paper.doc
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