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n this chapter, we look at strategies for expanding the base of sources
you work with to support your argument. The habits and skills of close
reading and analysis that we have discussed and that you have practiced
are essential for evaluating the sources you find. Once you find sources,
you will need to assess the claims the writers make, the extent to which
they provide evidence in support of those claims, and the recency, rele
vance, accuracy, and reliability of the evidence. The specific strategies we
discuss here are those you will use to find and evaluate the sources you
locate in your library’s electronic catalog or on the Internet. These strate
gies are core skills for developing a researched academic argument. They
are also essential to avoid being overwhelmed by the torrent of informa
tion unleashed at the click of a computer mouse.
Finding sources is not difficult; finding and identifying good sources
is challenging. You know how simple it is to look up a subject in an ency
clopedia or to use a search engine like Google or Yahoo! to discover basic
information on a subject or topic. Unfortunately, this kind of research will
only take you so far. What if the information you find doesn’t really address
your question? True, we have emphasized the importance of thinking
about an issue from multiple perspectives — and finding multiple perspec
tives is easy when you search the Internet. But how do you know whether
a perspective is authoritative or trustworthy or even legitimate? Without
knowing how to find and identify good sources, you can waste a lot of time
reading material that will not contribute to your essay. Our goal is to help
you use your time wisely to collect the sources you need to support your
argument.From Finding to Evaluating Sources
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