How do I know if my sources are relevant?

When selecting sources for your papers/essays/speeches, make sure that you evaluate each potential source to make sure that it is relevant to your topic.  Irrelevant sources will make your research weak and may actually lower your grade. Below are some tips for evaluating your sources for relevance.

• What is the source about?
  • Check the title, the abstract,  the introduction, and the headings to see whether they fit what you're researching. Will it work within your paper and your argument (if any)? Consider the points you make in you are making in your paper and make sure that your sources address all those points.  Example: if you're writing a paper about banning plastic bags and you are addressing climate change, landfills, and impact on wildlife, make sure your sources cover all those points. If your sources cover aspects you are not including in your paper, they are not relevant. 
• Does the information relate to your topic and/ or answer your research question?
  • The content of your sources has to directly relate to your topic. It also has to help you answer your research question.  If the information contained in your sources does not relate directly to your topic or does not help you answer your research question, then it does not belong in your paper. 
• What is the subject area?
  • Find out what discipline the article covers. If you're researching global warming for a political science class, an article on global warming from a biology journal won't be relevant. The title of a journal or a book should tell you what field it covers. 
• Are you looking for current information?
  • If you need current information, check the publication date. 
• Is the source academic/scholarly?
  • Many assignments require you to use some academic or scholarly sources. Academic sources are those published by academic publishers (usually university presses, for example, Cornell University Press), and intended for educational purposes. Scholarly sources go through a peer review process that ensures their credibility. All scholarly sources are academic, but not all academic sources are scholarly. To figure out if a journal is peer-reviewed, ask your instructor or a librarian.
• What type of article is it? 
  • Not every article in a scholarly journal will be appropriate for your research. Besides research articles, a journal may contain things like book reviews, editorials, letters to the editor, interviews, etc.  Read the abstract and/or the beginning of the article to make sure you know what the source is, and when in doubt, ask your instructor or a librarian. 
• Have you consulted other sources?
  • Don't select the first few sources you find just because you're overwhelmed or in a rush. Research takes time, and the first source you find isn't always the best one. Collect several potential sources and evaluate them for relevance. Take the time to research, collect, and compare sources to find the most relevant ones.  

• For help finding resources, use the library's playbooks. Librarians can help you understand the playbooks, but they cannot conduct research for you.
• For help with formatting citations, please consult the library's citation styles playbooks. Please note the librarians cannot help you with citation generators or with any citation guide other than the library's. 
• For help with composition issues (such as spelling, grammar, flow, etc.), visit the Writing Center.
• If you have questions, email the  librarians at reference@pvcc.edu, visit the library and speak with a librarian, or connect via chat. If your section has an embedded librarian, contact that specific librarian.