Evaluation of Sources - A How to Guide

Newspapers are periodicals because they are published at regular intervals, typically daily or weekly. They contain a variety of articles on current events, news, opinions, advertisements, and other information.

Some newspapers are considered local papers intended to be read by people in a certain location, and some are more regional, national or international in audience. Examples include: The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times (London), Wallstreet Journal, and many more.

Newspaper Databases

Taft College Library provides access to articles from newspapers via online databases. ProQuest's US Newsstream and EBSCOhost's Newspaper Source Plus provide worldwide access to newspapers .

Newspaper Source Plus includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.

US Newsstream provides current coverage from major national newspapers including: The New York Times (1980-present), The Wall Street Journal (1984-present), Washington Post (1987-present), Los Angeles Times (1985-present), The Christian Science Monitor (1988-present), The Atlanta Journal Constitution (2001-present), The Boston Globe (1980-present) and many regional publications from across the United States.

Evaluating Newspapers

When evaluating newspapers for research, consider the following:

Credibility of the Source

• Assess the reputation and reliability of the newspaper and its publisher.
• Review the credentials and expertise of the authors.

Bias and Objectivity

• Evaluate whether the reporting is balanced and free from undue bias.
• Be mindful of the newspaper's potential political or commercial affiliations.

Accuracy and Verification

• Cross-check information with other reputable sources.
• Look for evidence and citations within the articles.

Timeliness

• Ensure the information is current and relevant to the research topic.

Intended Audience

• Understand the target audience and consider how it may influence the content and perspective.

By using these criteria, students can effectively incorporate newspapers into their research, ensuring they use credible and pertinent information.

Using Newspapers in Research

While newspaper articles are not typically the first choice for inclusion in academic research as they are not peer-reviewed articles, they do provide first‐hand accounts of events that have historical significance and are excellent examples of primary sources. Newspapers are often the first reliable sources reporting on current and local events.

We use newspapers in research to:

• access primary source material for historical and contemporary events;
• understand public opinion and societal issues at specific points in time;
• gather information on local, national, and international events.

Examples of Newspaper Use in Research

There are many potential research purposes for which newspaper articles can serve as valuable sources. Below are some examples of research queries.

• Contemporary reporting of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961.
• Contemporary accounts of the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor in 1898.
• The capture and killing of Libya's Gadhafi in October 2011.
• Public sentiment toward the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States.
• Conservative and liberal analyses of NATO's intervention in Bosnia in 1995.
• Changes in cigarette advertisements in national newspapers of the United States from the early 1900s up to today.
• Excerpts of Lincoln's November 19, 1863, Gettysburg address published at the time of its delivery with editorial commentary of the time.

Another example is that scientific and technological breakthroughs are often reported in newspapers. A researcher keeping track of advances in science and technology would use newspapers to find announcements of where any breakthroughs were made and by whom. Finding the scientific literature surrounding the breakthrough would be the next step for the academic researcher.

How To Cite a Newspaper Article

While many databases have citation tools that generate an automatic citation, these can often have mistakes that make the citation incorrect. Students should learn how to recognize the elements of citations and how to create one. The following information is used to create a citation for a newspaper.

• Article headline
• Article byline
• Newspaper name (and place of publication if it has a common title)
• Date of the newspaper
• Page and column of the article
• Where the article was retrieved (in print, from a database, online, etc.)
• When the article was retrieved (this is especially important if the article was found on the open Internet)

See examples of an how an article looks in a database below: