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RESEARCH GUIDES

COMM 200: Critical Thinking and Speaking

This research guide will help you find sources for your Unit 1 project: Recovering Narrative

Questions To Ask When Evaluating a Source

Any information source (a news article, scholarly paper, social media post, or anything else) tells a particular narrative. Our goal is to understand the context in which a source was created and the story it is telling.

We can ask questions like:

  • Who created this source? What was their perspective on the subject?
  • Why was this source created? Who is the intended audience?
  • Who (or what) is the subject of the source, and how were they perceived in their time? Were they allowed to participate in the creation of the source?
  • How does the format or medium of the source influence the story it tells? For instance, how is the story in a book different from the same story told in a documentary?
  • Who "owns" this source now? Where do you go to find it? How easily can different people access it? Do they have to pay money?
  • How do our personal experiences and preexisting knowledge shape how we interpret this source?
  • Has there been a societal shift in how we talk about the issues in this source since it was first created?

The SIFT Method

You can use the SIFT method to evaluate sources.

The letters SIFT with what each stands for underneath. S is for Stop, I is for Investigate the source, F is for Find better coverage, and T is for Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context

SIFT Method by Mike Caulfield (method and graphic), licensed CC BY 4.0

Stop

Pause to think about the source.

Investigate

Search for more information about the source and its creator. Think about:

  • Who is the creator of this source? What makes them an expert on this topic? How can we find more information about them?
  • Why might they have created this source?
  • Who is the audience they have in mind?
  • What are the goals of the platform on which the source appears?
  • Does this source's perspective matter to our topic... or not?

Find other sources about your topic

What do other experts say about this topic? Do they agree or disagree? Are there other perspectives to consider?

The original SIFT says to find better coverage, but the sources you find might not be better or worse, just representing different perspectives.

Trace claims, quotes, and media to their original context

Is your source referencing or summarizing another source? Can you trace back to those sources?