Instructors often ask students to find "scholarly," "academic," or "peer reviewed" sources of information for their research. These terms all refer to the same type of information – sources based on in-depth research, and are considered higher in quality and more reliable for your research.
These sources can range from chapters within books or entire books, or journal articles, but all have common characteristics that can help you recognize that type of information:
Evaluate your Results and Sources: Use the PROVEN model: purpose, relevance, objectivity, verifiability, expertise, and newness
Use the P.R.O.V.E.N. Source Evaluation Process (PDF below) to help you determine whether the sources you find are credible and appropriate choices for your particular research purpose. The process of evaluating a source includes examining the source itself and examining other sources by:
The questions below will help you think critically during the source evaluation process:
1Based on Caulfield, Mike. "Four Moves and a Habit." Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, 2017.
P.R.O.V.E.N. Source Evaluation by Ellen Carey (6/18/18) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
From: Lee, S., & Lebowitz, S. (2015, August 26). 20 cognitive biases that screw up your decisions. Business Insider.