In order to evaluate the credibility of a source, determine the source’s purpose, audience, and editorial standards, A short cut for determining a source’s purpose, audience, and standards is to understand what type of source it is.

Understanding source types will also help you cite them correctly.

Please note that library databases do not always label sources correctly.

Overview of Source Types

Field-Specific Sources

This category of sources falls into three types: professional or trade organizations, trade publications, scholarly publications, and scholarly organizations. All of these sources are designed for specific audiences with an interest in a specific field or industry.

Professional or Trade Organizations. Professional or trade organizations, sometimes also referred to as associations, are groups that an individual can join in order to network and learn more about a specific industry.

Trade Publications. Trade publications can be called trade magazines or trade journals. They provide news and information for professionals who work in a specific field.

Scholarly Publications. Scholarly publications are often called journals. They provide detailed, heavily researched articles on narrow topics of interest to researchers. They are usually written by university professors and they are intended for an academic audience.

Scholarly Organizations. Scholarly organizations are groups that professors and researchers can join to share research and network. They are dedicated to a narrow field of research.

General Audience Sources

General audience sources include newspapers and popular magazines.

Popular Magazines.

Newspapers.

Wire Services.

Reference Works

Reference works, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, provide a useful introduction to a topic or background reading. However, if you cite a reference work, it suggests to your reader that you didn’t go beyond an introductory look into a topic. Use reference works as a starting point, but read and cite books and articles that provide deeper understanding of your topic.

Individually Created Sources

This category of sources requires extensive vetting, and includes the following types of sources:

Blogs.

Medium Posts.

Newsletters.

Podcasts.

Social Media Accounts.

Content Marketing

The purpose of content marketing is to create “articles” that seem to provide useful information, but which aren’t fact checked and which exist to promote a product, service, or organization.

Chapter Sections:

• Blogs, Podcasts, and Social Media
• Content Marketing
• Newspapers
• Popular Magazines 
• Professional Organizations
• Trade Publications 
• Scholarly Journals

Blogs, Podcasts, and Social Media

Blogs, podcasts, and social media accounts can all be valid sources for research.  However, you have to be a discerning consumer of such sources, evaluate their credibility carefully, and be sure you know how to identify content marketing.

Blogs

The best blogs will be either the work of one or two individuals whose credentials you can verify or will be associated with another reliable media source, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or the Associated Press.  For most types of research, avoid blogs with corporate authors, which function as content marketing.

Podcasts

Good podcasts can be a place to find informative conversations among experts in a wide variety of fields.  Look for podcasts where you can verify the credentials of the guests and the hosts.  Some podcasts also claim they are fact-checked, which would be another signal of reliability if you can confirm it.

Like blogs, podcasts are also often associated with other credible sources of information–The New York Times puts out The Daily, for example, and The Wall Street Journal offers What’s News. Also like blogs, podcasts can serve as content marketing.  For most research purposes, you would want to avoid podcasts affiliated with companies.

Social Media Accounts

Useful social media accounts, on a variety of platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc), provide a place for experts to offer insights.  Look at their bio and verify credentials before citing an individual’s account.

Following the account of another reliable source can also be a way to stay up to date on different types of news.  For example, you might follow the Harvard Business Review on Twitter to stay current on topics they cover.  You also might follow an individual journalist, if you know they cover your field regularly.

Avoid corporate social media accounts for research unless you are specifically interested in how a company is using social media or what that company is promoting.

Content Marketing

Sponsored content, content marketing, or native advertising is an article, blog post, podcast episode, or social media post that is designed to promote a product or service. Designed to blend into the publication’s other content, this material has no relationship to the journalists, authors, or editors of the publication where it appears. The following clues will help you tell the difference between an objective, fact-checked article and paid advertising.

How do you identify content marketing?

Advertising Labels

Most reputable publications will clearly label sponsored content above or below the article or post, but the label can be small and unobtrusive. The labels vary but include terms like “Advertisement,” “Ad,” “Promoted,” “Sponsored,” “Featured Partner,” or “Suggested Post.”

The New York Times, for example, labels advertiser content as a “paid post.” If you click on the label, you’ll read the following message:

“This content was paid for by The Healthy Living Coalition and created by T Brand Studio, the brand marketing arm of The New York Times. The news and editorial staffs of The New York Times had no role in this post’s creation.”

LinkedIn and other social media sites also identify native advertising with the labels “sponsored” or “promoted.” However, it can be harder to tell if an individual poster is getting paid to recommend products.

Blogs, Newsletters, & Podcasts Connected to Company Websites

Although these won’t be labeled as sponsored content, they are, in fact, advertising. McKinsey Blog provides information but its main purpose is to draw potential clients to their website to learn more about what they offer. Goldman Sachs’s podcast Exchanges serves the same purpose; the episodes highlight the expertise of their employees and promote the company.

Forbes’ Council Posts

Forbes created a set of “councils” that members can join to promote themselves as leaders in their fields. Professionals on the councils pay to publish posts on Forbes, thus raising their profile in their industry. These posts are a tricky form of sponsored content; they usually have an author and a date and the labeling is unclear.

Organizations or Corporations as Authors

An objective, fact-checked news or popular magazine article will have a reporter or a staff writer on the byline. Sponsored content might not have an author or will have a company or organization as an author. For example, Deloitte pays to place native advertising in The Wall Street Journal in a series they call “CIO Insights and Analysis from Deloitte.” These articles may be interesting, but they are not fact-checked or objective; their purpose is to promote Deloitte’s services.

The Wall Street Journal also provides the following label on articles in this series:

“Content from Our Sponsor Please note: The Wall Street Journal News Department was not involved in the creation of the content below.”  

Un-dated Material

Without a date, a sponsored post seems relevant for a longer period of time and is therefore a cost-effective approach to advertising. Something that is trying to look like a news article or a blog post with business tips and doesn’t have a date is almost always trying to sell something. This technique is common in blog “posts” or podcast “episodes” associated with consulting firms or other companies that offer services related to the blog or podcast’s topic.

URL Clues

URLs are another place that a responsible news organization will label sponsored content. Here’s an example from Wired:

https://www.wired.com/sponsored/story/how-digital-purchasing-is-helping-businessestake-care-of-employees/

When can content marketing be a valid source?

Sometimes credible sources offer free information in order to promote their brand. For example, the New York Times’s podcast, The Daily, is available for free on most podcast apps and promotes the value of paid subscriptions to the newspaper. However, The Daily follows the same editorial standards as the newspaper; most of the stories it covers are based on reported articles that have been carefully edited and fact-checked.

For sources that seem credible but might be content marketing, consider the following questions:

• What’s the purpose of the source?
• Is this source affiliated with an organization that is known for providing accurate information?
• Who is the author and what makes them credible?
• How does this source use evidence?  What makes that evidence credible?
• What does this source leave out?
• Can I confirm this source’s information with another source that I know is credible?

Newspapers

What is a Newspaper?

A major publication that:

• publishes daily or almost daily
• offers a print edition
• has an editing and fact-checking process
• covers a range of international, national, local, and business news, as well as sports, fashion, food, arts, lifestyle, etc.
• lists reporters or staff writers on the byline
• attributes sources in text and/or through links

See below for examples of major U.S. newspapers, which are appropriate and relevant for most research topics.

International Newspapers

Library databases contain articles from newspapers around the world. Avoid international newspapers unless your research purpose demands an international perspective. In other words, don’t cite an Indian newspaper because it was the first result in your keyword database search on a general business topic. Do look for articles in Indian newspapers if you are researching, for example, a major Indian conglomerate like the Tata Group.

Wire Services and News Agencies

The databases also include articles from wire services and news agencies. These companies provide syndicated news to various media outlets; until these articles are published in a newspaper they are not newspaper articles.

Some wire services, like Reuters, provide legitimate news. Others, such as PR Newswire, offer company press releases, which are not credible news.

The best way to avoid citing a problematic source is to use database articles from known credible sources, such as the newspapers listed below.

Popular Magazines

What is a Popular Magazine?

A publication that:

• covers broadly focused topics (business, sports, politics, fashion, arts, tech) for a general audience
• does not require specialized knowledge to understand
• follows an editing and fact-checking process
• provides source attribution in text and/or through hyperlinks; no parenthetical citations or bibliography
• has a print version
• publishes weekly, fortnightly, or monthly

Professional Organization

What is a Professional Organization?

An association, society, or group, usually nonprofit, whose purpose is to:

• facilitate networking and professional development for professionals in a specific field or industry
• advance and maintain the profession through conferences, publications, online forums, and social media
• provide certifications and/or continuing education
• promote an ethical code

Trade Publications

What is a Trade Journal or Magazine?

A publication that is:

• focused on news and information for a single industry or field, such as marketing, accounting, or information systems
• written for people who work in a specific field
• written to be easily read by insiders or professionals working in that industry or field
• associated, often, with a professional organization
• written by professionals in the field, or by journalists who have developed a specialty in that field

Scholarly Journals

What is a Scholarly Journal?

A publication that:

• is peer-reviewed
• is created for an academic audience
• focuses on research for a specific field of study
• uses jargon and academic language
• contains lengthy articles (often 15-30 pages) that include an abstract and extensive citations and references
• is written by professors for professors and university-affiliated researchers