This data is not relevant to your topic because it is too old; you want data from the past year or two that takes into account these social changes.
When we do research, we should always make sure that research is relevant - that it directly explains our topic and is up-to-date. What sort of research is relevant changes based on what sort of information that we are looking for. If we want breaking news about events that just happened, the best thing we can do is to look at newspapers, news websites, and news television shows. They tend to be the best at bringing us information about events that have happened in the past couple of weeks.
Sometimes, however, we want to get an idea of the aftermath of the event or the topic; in other words, we want to know what happened after an event or get an idea of how things related to our topic have progressed in the past few weeks, months, or years. For information like that, we should think about academic journals and trade journals, since these are often well-edited and do a good job of looking back at data over the past few months or years to explore a topic. We might also look at magazines, since some magazines that cover science, nature, or news will do articles that research, report on, and discuss events or topics that have been popular or important over the past weeks and months.
For other topics, we may want to get a sense of the history of the topic over the years. To get historical data, books and documentaries do a good job at going back years (or even centuries or millennia) and charting the historical information on our topic. By choosing the right type of source for our topic, we can make sure that we are getting the information we need and not using information that is too out-of-date for our assignments.
Reliable Research Should Be Verifiable
Even if we do get research that seems to be the type of up-to-date research that we need, there is still a chance that the information itself is not reliable. How can we tell which sources are true and accurate? We can make sure that our research is verifiable - that it checks out as true, accurate research - by looking at two things: the author and the source itself.
Why should we look at the author? Well, we can check the author of the sources out to see if he or she is an expert in the subject. We want to make sure that the author has experience, education, or training in the topic. We can find this information in many places. On a book, we can look at the back cover of the book jacket to see if other experts recommend the book, and we can look on the inside flaps and first pages before the book itself begins to see past works the author has done.
For other sources, we might do a quick search on the author to find out information about them. We want to find out what credentials the author has. For example, do they have degrees in their field? Do they have a track record of giving out good information? Have they won any prestigious awards that show that they are doing exceptional work? A quick online search of your authors can often save you from wasting time with poor sources. Just as employers ask to know more about our education and experience when we send in a resume for a job, we should try to know more about the education and experience of our sources.
However, it also may help to check the source itself. In some articles or books, the books give credit to other sources that they have used, whether in the footnotes or directly in the text itself. You may see phrases such as ''In a 2012 poll done by Survey USA...'' or ''In a study done by scientists at Harvard...'' used in sentences that share research or data. This is good! It indicates that the research the author is using is verifiable and is trusted enough to use as a basis for further research.
Reliable Research Should Be Unbiased
Making sure that our source is giving all of the facts is an important part of making sure a source is accurate. A biased source will only present facts that support one view of an event or a topic. We want our sources to be as unbiased, or fair to all sides of the topic, as possible. Everyone has their own opinions to some degree, but good sources do one of two things to limit bias:
- The author of the piece should admit his or her biases. This way, you can know that the source has certain biases, and you can take this into account when you use the source in your writing.
- The piece should stick to telling the facts. The facts are basically the five Ws and one H; if a source tells only who, what, where, when, why, and how and avoids adding any personal analysis or opinion, the source can typically be trusted. Most news sources often try to stick to just sharing the five Ws and one H, but remember that other news sources also stick their own opinions in with the facts. You should always try to choose news sources that report the facts and nothing else.
Lesson Summary
When we are asked to do research for our assignments or essays, our teachers expect that our research is accurate and credible. To make sure that we reach those goals, we want research that:
- Is relevant and covers the time period that we are writing about
- Is verifiable and has an author and information that are both easily found to be trustworthy
- Is unbiased and that sticks to the facts or at least clearly admits when it will share biased opinion so that we can avoid relying on it in our research
By making sure to take a bit more time and only gather sources that check out on all three accounts, we can avoid adding inaccurate or false info to our writing. Remember that finding reliable research means more than just doing a quick search online! Make sure that you use books, eBooks, government documents, scientific studies, podcasts, documentaries, newspapers, news sites, magazines, and journal articles, among other possible sources, so that you can cast a wide enough net to find the reliable sources that you need for your work!