ENGL B1A: Contemporary Issues: Evaluate Sources

Most reviews are not lengthy and appear in magazines, journals, and newspapers.  Consequently, reviews can be found in the some of the databases BC subscribes to.  Use EBSCO Academic Search Complete, Gale Academic OneFile, Gale Literature Resource Center, or EBSCO Newspaper Source Plus. to access, click the link on the library webpage or the link below. Though the manner of searching varies in each database, the best search to use is one that includes the full title of the book in one search field, the author’s last name in a separate search field, and the word review* in another search field.  In Literature Resource Center it’s best to click the “Works Search” link directly under the main search box at the top of the screen.  On the next page, enter the title of the book in the box next to the blue Search button and click Search.  In the results, click the “Reviews and News” tab to find reviews. 

Remember that some review articles review multiple books in one article.  There’s a chance that the article title may not even include the title of your book.  Nevertheless, look at the article to see where your book is mentioned and take what you can from the review, even if it’s brief.

Additional Resources

If you can find nothing in any of the BC databases, as a last resort you can use Amazon to find an entry for the book and then scroll down the page to the “Editorial Reviews.”  Here you’ll often find one or two helpful reviews.  DO NOT use the “Customer Reviews” as these are just opinions of customers who purchased the book and are not professional reviews.     

If you have access to the book, don’t forget to look for the author’s information on the book itself. This can usually be found on the back of the book or on the inside dust jacket.

When looking for information on authors, Consider the following:

What is his/her education level?

What is his/her career?

Has he/she published other works?

Has he/she won any awards (especially for writing about or in relation to the topic)?

What is his/her point of view?

Where to find the information online

There are two databases available through the library, Gale Biography in Context and Gale Literature Resource Center that contain information about authors. 

To find authors in Gale Biography in Context click the link on the library webpage or the link below.  On the next page, enter the name of the author you’re looking for, last name first, in the box at the top of the page. If the author’s name appears on a list of names, click on it.  On the next page, find the sections labeled “Reference” or “Biographies” and click any one of the resources in those sections. Preferably look for entries in the “Reference” section from “Contemporary Authors” for information about the author’s life, career, education, and writings.

To find authors in Gale Literature Resource Center, click the link on the library webpage or the link below, and go to the link labeled “Person Search” which is located just below the main search box at the top of the screen.  On the next page, enter the name of the person you’re looking for, last name first, in the box next to the blue Search button, and click Search. Click on the correct author’s name.  On the next page you’ll find groupings of sources such as “Literary Criticism,” “Multimedia,” and “Biographies.”  Go to the “Biographies” section and look preferably for something from “Contemporary Authors Online.” If there isn’t one, use another source from the “Biographies” section for information about the author’s life, career, education, and writings.

Additional Resources

Not all authors will be found in Gale Biography in Context or Gale Literature Resource Center. In these cases you may need to go to the Internet to find information about the author. To find an author using Google, type the author’s name in quotes in the search box. Look for results from book publisher websites or college or university websites.  These tend to have the best information about the author. You may sometimes find authors have created their own personal websites with information about their credentials. 

Another possible electronic resource is Amazon. Search the book in Amazon and look at the “Publisher’s Description” section of the entry for the book.  This will often include brief information about the author.   

When looking for information on journals, consider the following:

Is the periodical peer-reviewed?

Who is the publisher of the periodical?

Where to find the information online

Go to the database in which you found the article (EBSCO Academic Search Complete or Gale Academic One File) and perform a search for the publication using the “Publication Search” or “Publications” tab at the top of the page.  On the next page, search for the periodical by title.  Click on the title of the periodical and the next page should display whether the periodical is peer-reviewed (or scholarly), the intended audience, and a brief description of what it’s about.  You can then use this information to determine the reputation of the periodical.

You may also use Media Bias Fact Check to check the bias and quality rating.