One of the most challenging parts of doing research is making sense of what you are finding and determining the validity, authority, and position of the sources you encounter. Your writing assignment asks you to "critically assess biases or shortcomings in the information sources used to research the topic." Here are a few tips to help you with this task.
1. STOP: As you peruse search results and/or sources, (and before going down a rabbit hole), ask these questions:
- Who is/are the author(s) and/or the publishers of the materials you have found? Do they have academic, organizational and/or government credentials?
- If the source is posted online, what can you tell about the website (domain, heavy with ads/clickbait etc)?
- Is this an academic book or journal?
- From what you can determine about the source, what possible positionality or bias might exist in the source?
TIP: Many of our databases let you filter on "Peer-Reviewed" articles. This means the author(s)' work has been reviewed and vetted by other experts and sometimes affords the publication with more authority.
2. INVESTIGATE: A few questions you can ask as you take a deeper look:
- Is the source current enough for my needs or do I need more recent sources?
- Does the source seem accurate? Can I corroborate facts and/or assertions by checking other sources?
- What is the audience? Do/does the author(s) cite other research and/or offer evidence for their claims? Can you trace claims or assertions back to the original sources cited?
3. REFLECT:
- What is your positionality and what are you bringing to the interpretation of the sources? Are you seeing a range of perspectives that challenge your thinking?
- Are you in a filter bubble? If you repeatedly only use one search environment (google, chatbots) the algorithms may be keeping you from finding more diverse perspectives and ideas and only reinforcing more of the same.
TIP: Using a variety of search environments (databases, portals) is a good corrective.