Skip to Main Content

Library Skills Online

Good Quality Academic Resources (Evaluating Resources)

As a researcher you need to learn to be selective and ensure that you are consulting reliable information. You should ask yourself questions about the literature sources you find and avoid taking things at face value. This is especially important when you are searching the internet, while there are many high quality websites out there, there is also an abundance of misinformation, biased reporting and advertising. You can follow our guidance to learn to choose your sources carefully.

What is Evaluating?

Evaluating is a process of assessing the quality of an information source. It involves weighing up its relative strengths and weaknesses taking into account factors such as reliability, accuracy, authority, currency, point of view or bias.

  • Good quality resources help you to build your arguments and create good quality assignments
  • Using high quality resources can boost your grades
  • Evaluating resources is a transferable skill that is valued by employers

Book a session

Good Quality Academic Resources - 45 minutes

 

How do I attend?

Register Online - you will need to log in with your UWS e-mail address and password to access the form. If you are accessing this from a work PC, you may need to log out of your work Office account to view the form.

The Zoom link to join this session will appear on the registration confirmation screen if you wish to copy and paste it into your online calendar. We will also send a reminder email containing the Zoom link nearer the time.

 

When are the sessions?

None are currently  scheduled.

 

Who's this session for?

This session is for anyone who would like to improve the quality of the academic resources they are citing and referencing for assignments. We will discuss which type of research tools to use and compare these against general internet searches and the use of Google Scholar. We will also discuss how traditional library research resources compare with the new Gen AI search tools.

 

What will the session cover?

This 45-minute session will cover:

  • What are good research tools
  • How do library resources compare to internet search engines like Google etc.
  • The rise of Gen AI search tools

Help & Support

Looking for assistance?

If you wish to discuss the question of evaluating literature sources and get help finding good quality academic resources, please book an appointment with an Academic Librarian. Appointments are available either online or in-person.