Evaluating Magazine & Newspaper Articles
 

How do you know when you have found a good article for your project? Look carefully at the article you have found, and ask yourself these questions:

  1. Does it cover your topic? To find the answer to this question: look at the title of the article, read the abstract/summary of the article, and read the first few paragraphs of the article. Is there enough information? Is there too much information?

    2.  
  2. Can you understand the words in the article? Read a few paragraphs from the article to find out.

    3.  
  3. How current is the information?Look at the date the article was published. For your topic, is it important for the information to be very current, or is an older article okay?
                






Exercise


Use this exercise to evaluate an article you've found.

Article title: ______________________________ Author: _____________________

Title of periodical the article is in: ___________________ Date: _______ Pages: ____

1)  How well does the article cover your topic? Circle one answer.

    Very well    Somewhat, but I need more    Not very well    Too MUCH information
2)  Can you understand the words in the article? Circle one answer.
    I can understand most of the words    Some of the words      Not many of the words
3)  How current is the information? Circle one answer. Very current          Older, but still useful          Too old to be useful 4) Would you use this article for your project?

____ Yes! It covers the topic, it is understandable, and it has a good amount of information for this project.

____ Maybe. I might use it if I cannot find good information in other articles.

____ NO! This would not be a good article for this project.
 

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Copyright Northern Virginia Community College
Created by Anne Anderson
Updated June 2008