Created by Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian, University of Waterloo; Adapted by Aneta Kwak, Mikayla Redden, Jeff Newman, Liaison Librarians, University of Toronto; Modified by Dylan McGlothlin, Humanities Librarian, Western Michigan University
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
What we typically think of in academic research: books, journal articles, conference presentations, etc., created by scholars, researchers, and students for each other.
Most sources from academic voices have undergone a process called peer review, where 2 or more experts in the field evaluate the research questions, methodology, findings, conclusions, sources, etc., for quality and originality.
Look to see if there are any conflicts of interest or funding statements.
Magazine and newspaper articles, and videos and social media posts created by international, national, local, regional, or topic-based news networks. These are written by writers and journalists for the general public.
There are many different tools available to evaluate news sources, each with its own strategy for determining bias. Here are a few to check out:
*Bias charts only show the average bias leanings of all the articles, posts, videos, etc. of a news source. They can be helpful to get an idea of how to evaluate a specific article, but the bias will depend on the author and type of article, as well as the news source that published it. For example, letters to the editor, opinion, and guest articles include more of the writer's thoughts and judgments rather than factual statements. The article type may be stated next to the title of the article or the author's name, which could be at the beginning or end of the article.
The voices of those who are being researched; individuals directly affected by your topic.
*Some NGOs are created by and for community members.
Because the goal of finding community voices on your topic is to hear from those directly affected by your equity issue, the main evaluation question to ask of these sources is: Does the person have the identity or experience to be considered a community member?
Non-government organizations (NGOs) are non-profit organizations that operate independently from any government, though they may work alongside government organizations and advocate for policy changes. For example, the American Red Cross, an NGO, often collaborates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on disaster relief. NGOs often have a humanitarian, social, or environmental focus. As an organization separate from a government, they can be very focused in their work, collecting and publishing data about the needs of the populations they serve and how their work fulfills those needs.
To simplify the categorization of voice types within the Research Honeycomb, for-profit organizations, like businesses and corporations, are included in this voice type. Though they are also a non-government organization, the label of NGO is typically only used for non-profit organizations. Businesses need data to develop products tailored to their customer base. Some of that information is made public.
*Some NGOs are created by and for community members.
Both types of organizations have reasons for sharing the information they collect: non-profit NGOs want to expand support for a community and convince donors that their work is worthy of financial support, and for-profit businesses want to sell their product and assure shareholders that they have made a good investment. Because of this, the information they publish is presented in a way that supports these goals. This doesn't mean you should avoid using this information in your research. Oftentimes, they are the only ones who publish that specific information because they are the only organizations interested in it! Just consider their data collection methods and how language and data visualizations are being used to support the goals of an organization in your evaluation of the information.
Goals: What is their mission and vision statement? What is their goal? If it's vague, what is implied by the language they use in those statements in the context of the rest of their website? This can be found on their About page, linked at the very top or very bottom of a website.
Who: Who makes up this organization? Is there information about membership or a board of directors? If an organization serves a specific community, are any members of that community involved in leadership? Is there information on who funds their work or who owns the company? This information is on their About, Contact, or Directory page.
Data: Look for a Resources list. How was their data collected? Are they making logical assumptions from that data? If there are any links to other information sources, do they lead to other organizations or stay within that organization's website? Look for information gaps. For example, does a survey of how long it takes Americans to commute to work consider those who use public transportation and rideshares, or only those who own their vehicles?
Outside Views: What do other websites say about this organization? Are there any notable news articles about them? One of the simplest ways to do this is to search the NGO title in Google and browse the News tab.
Information by a local, national, domestic or foreign government.
Stakeholder: an individual or group indirectly affected by the equity issue you are studying.
Ally: an individual or group with similar goals to those who are affected by the equity issue but are not community members.
Check out the other voice types for tips on how to evaluate them.
To the left of the search results, select the Peer-reviewed Journals search filter to limit results to only peer-reviewed journal articles.
Though there are many types and formats of academic information, we will focus on peer-reviewed journal articles. Peer-reviewed journals are considered the gold standard for academic information and are often required sources for research assignments. This is because these journals publish articles reviewed or refereed by two or more experts in that field of study. If a journal article is peer-reviewed, you can be assured the academic community has confirmed the article investigated a unique topic, applied the appropriate methodology, and cited relevant sources.
Peer-reviewed journals typically include sections of articles that are not peer-reviewed. These are usually book reviews, news within the field, obituaries, or other general announcements. While these may contain helpful information for you to get started on a search, they are not peer-reviewed and usually not accepted as a source for your research project.
These types of articles are identified by their length and lack of references. If it is only a few pages long and doesn't list any sources for where the authors found their information, it is probably not a peer-reviewed article.
TL;DR The journal can be peer-reviewed, but not all articles within it are peer-reviewed.
There are many different tools available to evaluate news sources, each with its own strategy for determining bias. Here are a few to check out:
Bias charts only show the average bias leanings of all the articles, posts, videos, etc. of a news source. They can be helpful to get an idea of how to evaluate a specific article, but the bias will depend on the author and type of article, as well as the news source that published it. For example, letters to the editor, opinion, and guest articles include more of the writer's thoughts and judgments rather than factual statements. The article type may be stated next to the title of the article or the author's name, which could be at the beginning or end of the article.
Because the goal of finding community voices on your topic is to hear from those directly affected by your equity issue, the main evaluation question to ask of these sources is: Does the person have the identity or experience to be considered a community member?
*Note: When finding community voices for your equity issue, keep in mind that everyone has a unique identity and experience. Use each community member's voice as a case study or example of how an equity issue can play out in real life to support your argument.
Click all the links and look to see what other websites have said about that website or organization.
Government websites change according to who the current elected or appointed official is, new policy and legislation, and changing social and internet norms. The End of Term Web Archive has saved government websites at the end of presidential administrations since 2008. The Wayback Machine can show you how specific websites have changed over time.
As previously mentioned, a lot of government reports are created by independent contractors who may be individual researchers, corporations, or universities. Look to see if the people who were involved in the data collection or writing of the report are named. It may be as vague as the name of a department or committee. This will still give you an idea of the original intent behind the data collection and use.
Consider the context of the information about your community or equity issue. What was happening nationally or globally at the time? What were the mainstream social and political norms? Knowing this background information can explain what data was being collected and its intended use. For example, the US Census questions reflect the priorities of the national government. The original 1790 Census specifically asked about "free white males over age sixteen," but did not include any questions about the age of other population groups to gauge our nation's military potential. In 1930, the Census included a question asking if the household owned a "Radio set." This was the first time a question about consumer goods was added to the Census, showing the government's interest in radio as a means of mass communication.