Assessing articles

Assessing an article is very similar to assessing a book. Nevertheless, there are some differences.

  • If topicality is important to your research, then be extra careful when assessing magazines, periodicals and journals. These are usually aimed at presenting current information. New information is quickly made available through (professional) journals. These often appear weekly or monthly. The risk of this information being out of date is therefore greater than in the case of a book which is less aimed at topicality and is updated occasionally.
  • When assessing magazines, periodicals and journals, peer review may play a role. The quality of a peer-reviewed article will have been assessed by several specialists in the field.

Relevance

Correspondence with question and objective

  • Does the information answer the questions you formulated?
  • Does the information correspond with the questions you formulated and/or your target audience?
  • Does the article give an overall picture?
  • Does the article as a source of information fit your information need?
Completeness
  • Does the article give a complete picture? Do you need more sources?
Topicality
  • How current does the information have to be, given your research?
  • What is the year of publication?
  • Is it to be expected that more recent developments have since taken place?
  • If reference is made to other sources, how recent are these?

 

Reliability

Authority
  • Who is the author and what authority does he have?
  • What is his background and has he published before?
  • Is the author affiliated to a particular (research) institute or organisation?
  • What was the author’s intention when writing the article?
  • Is peer review important for your research? Was this applied in the creation of this article?
Accuracy
  • Are the facts in the article correct?
  • Are opinions substantiated?
Objectivity
  • Is the information presented objectively?
  • Does the article mainly contain facts, or opinions?
  • What is the aim of the article? Information, opinion, amusement, commerce...
Quality of the publication
  • What is the look of the article, who is it published by?
Verifiability
  • Can the facts or data be checked?
  • Are the references correct? Which are the sources?

 

Example

Voorbeeld artikel Delfos

You are writing a report on learning and play. You have found the article It All Adds Up: Learning Early Math through Play and Games by Geetha B. Ramani & Sarah H. Eason in the journal Phi Delta Kappan from May 2015 (pp. 27-32).


Relevance

  • The article fits in well with your question and throws an interesting light on the subject.
  • For a fuller impression of the subject and other perspectives, you go in search of additional information.
  • The article is from 2015, therefore very recent.

Reliability

  • The author is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, she has not published a great number of articles.
  • The author’s aim is to share research findings about how Play and games can give young children opportunities to learn and develop foundational math skills
  • The article provides not only objective information, but also puts forward a well-founded opinion. You wish to include this view of the subject in your report..
  • A professional journal is well-suited to your aim. In this case peer review is not important.
  • There is a bibliography.

Conclusion

This is a good article written by an expert. Nevertheless, it would be better to also use other books or articles for your report.