Engineering

What kind of information do you need?  If you are writing for a class assignment, you may be required to use peer-reviewed ("refereed") or scholarly sources.  In any case, you should always look for sources that are authoritative.

Scholarly Checklist--Look for:

• Authors listed, with credentials
• Bibliography, references, or works cited
• Reviewed by peers or experts in the subject
• Published by a reputable publisher
• Purpose is to inform or impart knowledge, not to sell, persuade, entertain
• Appears impartial--few or no advertisements, no emotional language, unbiased
• Includes data, observations, statistics, or graphics to support conclusions
• Includes specialized or technical language or concepts

Authoritative--A source can have authority even if it isn't scholarly.

• Author and/or publisher is an expert on the subject, for example:
  • Manufacturer's catalogs
  • Legal or regulatory information
• Author's affiliations and contact information are available
• Publisher or sponsoring organization is reputable (e.g., for websites, look for the domain; .gov or .edu sites are more likely to contain unbiased information)
• Cites scholarly or high-quality sources in references list/bibliography

Other Criteria-- these are not definitive, but worthy of consideration:

• Do you see errors in spelling, grammar, data?
• Is the publication in turn cited by other credible works published later?
• How current is the information (no date? be suspicious)?

View Evaluating Sources for Credibility, a 3-minute video produced by NCSU Libraries

Although you can find high-quality information through web search engines, using library tools such as the catalog and databases may help you find information sources more efficiently.