The sources you select for research papers are meant to compliment your original thoughts, as stated in your thesis statement. Here are some ideas on how to decide whether to use a source for your paper:
- Refer to your assignment. Your professor may have provided specific instructions about the type and number of sources to use for your research paper.
- Decide which sources compliment your ideas the best. Are there sources that you want to paraphrase or summarize to help you make your point? If you do not intend to use direct or indirect quotations from a source, do not count it in your total number of sources.
- Try to use the most credible sources in your paper. Learn more about evaluating the information found in articles on our Evaluate Information Guide.
- Some things to consider:
- An appropriate source has been peer reviewed and has references.
- An appropriate source is either of a time period (historical) or up to date (contemporary).
- An appropriate source does not push an agenda and is unbiased.
Hopefully, by reviewing your sources with these ideas in mind, you will be able to reduce the total number of sources you use in a research paper to just the materials that truly support your thoughts.
