Quality over Quantity: What makes a good academic reference?

As previously mentioned in the "How many sources should I use" blogpost, it is important to consider not just the quantity of soures that you use, but also the quality of such sources.

Sources not only need to be relevant to your subject and specific assignment but also of overall academic quality and unfortunately with the wide range of available sources online it is all too easy to end up citing something which is academically unsound.

An example I heard from a colleague was that an article that a former student used seemed perfectly legitimate, well-written, well-sourced and cited, except for one small detail, that being that the website on which it was published, which again seemed like a perfectly legitimate web journal, also published holocaust denial propaganda and this immediately threw the validity of the paper the student used into doubt.

So what is to be done in this case? How is the validity and suitability of an academic reference to be ascertained? It might seem simple enough to say that we should only used published materials in physical books and journals and avoid online sources like the plague. This is certainly one approach but it is also markedly out of date for studying

in this day and age. Compared to the length of time it takes to get something published into print, publishing online is dramatically quicker and therefore the material, usually, is more upto date which is itself a mark of a useful source (the more upto date the better!)

If we are not to avoid online sources altogether then, we must learn how to distiniguish the valuable from the invaluable, the appropriate from the inappropriate and for this, you will have to indulge your inner detective, but remember that, like a lot of what I write about and put in my videos, it is really little more than common sense and is therefore, quite "elementary" (you can't begrudge me that one, I am a literature graduate after all)

More often than not, saying to students that doing "extra" reading on top of what they already expected or required to do is necessary, has been met by me with an exasperated sigh or look of utter despair, but the good news here is that you can actually learn a lot of what you need to know before approaching the source itself. Considering who the author is of the source, when it was published and where can all help ensure that you do not fall into the same trap as that aforementioned student.

So, beginning with when it was published, as already indicated, being recent and up to date is a key detail (saying that, it is important to note that most subjects have at their root some theoretical knowledge which is years old, but accepted as a foundation and you do need to know where to find these) and most search engines allow you to filter by year which is a useful tool to refine your results.

Following this, you can look at where it was published, in what journals and on what websites or blogs. This might require a little more digging to see the true affiliations and publisher behind a name, but still is not a massive amount of work in the grand scheme of things. You could also look at who else contributes or works on the journal (again, not difficult information to find) because if something is published in a lesser known and possibly even obscure journal which is not affiliated with other major names in your field, it might be worth checking further to ascertain its validity. Once you then know what the "go to" journals and publications in your area, (and if you having diffculty ascertaining this, you could always consult your lecturers or faculty librarians for this information) you can simply recall them when you need.

Whether a source has been cited, reviewed or peer-reviewed prior to publication are other questions you can ask and it is a simple matter to look up reviews of an article or simply search for the title to see where else it appe

ars. Again, if it is not being used or talked about, there might be a reason why.

While what other people say and whether or not they use the article is a useful start point and can give you some sense of confidence in it or not. At some point you are of course going to have to look at the source or article itself to get some idea of it's quality and in this case you might want to consider what evidence is it based upon. As said above, most subjects have some foundational knoweldge at their base and there are names which commonly crop up even if only used for general reference. If an article seems under-cited or reliant upon questionable or even out of date evidence then it might not be for you. You do not need to read the whole article for this, but look at the reference list at the end for familiar names and recent dates.

Finally (cue the exasperation) you will have to actually look at the source to ascertain the basics like whether or not it is well written, if the argument makes sense or not and even if it is relevant or useful for your particular question. This then comes on to ranking of sources into primary, secondary and tertiary which is a question for another day.

#highereducation #university #student #studentlife #academic #academicsuccess #studyskills #academicwriting #academicwritingservices #academicwritingassignments #mentalhealth