Periodical Article Evaluation

Here are some factors to consider when evaluating magazine, journal and newspaper articles:

Criteria	Suggestions for how to determine if the article addresses the criteria
Content Is your topic covered?	· If provided, read the abstract or summary of the article · Look for captions and subheadings · Read topic sentences
Authority Is the information reliable?	· Check the author’s credentials – journal articles frequently give brief biographical information about the author. For magazine and newspaper authors, check to see what else they’ve written (in our databases, you can usually just click on the author’s name to go to a list of articles he or she has written). · Check the credentials of the people who were interviewed for the article – did the interviewer do a good job of searching out people to interview?
Purpose What is the bias/perspective of the periodical or the article?	· Determine the type of article (editorial, news report, study, letter, opinion). · Check the reputation of the magazine in Katz – Magazines for Libraries (Ref Z6941 .K2) or in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory (Ulrich's will tell you what kind of periodical your title is, and sometimes provides reviews as well)
Date Is the information up-to-date enough for the topic chosen?	· Check the publication date · If it’s a research report, check to see when the research was done.
Level of Difficulty	· Is the vocabulary too technical or too scholarly for your purposes? · Is the vocabulary too elementary for college-level research?