Relevance

Overview

An important step during your evaluation stage is making sure your sources are actually relevant to your research question. Something is relevant when it is closely connected to what is happening or being discussed. A relevant source should answer the following three questions:

• Is it about your topic?
• Is it in an appropriate format?
• Does it have a published date that matches the expectations of the subject matter?

That seems like a lot of boxes to check but will ultimately save you time when you go to use the source in your research. There are a couple of more in-depth questions you can ask yourself to determine if a source is relevant, which we will discuss below.

In the “Information Ecosystem” module, each source type has a shaded box that outlines situations where each type of source is relevant. Relevant sources are also the ones that help you answer your research question. You can usually figure out if a source is useful by skimming key sections. As you decide what’s relevant, think about how up to date a source is. Sometimes it really matters, sometimes not so much. It depends on your topic and your field of study. For example, if you’re researching something in the life sciences, newer is usually better. That field evolves quickly, so you’ll want to stick with sources published in the last five years. In areas like computer security, even more recent sources might be needed. But if you’re doing historical research, you might actually seek out sources that are older to match the time period you are researching.

Time-Saving Tips

The most important tip for saving time is to recall and use the research plan that we discussed in the “Information Purpose” chapter. Having a plan will help you avoid conducting searches that won’t be relevant to both your research need and assignment parameters.

Instead of thinking you must read every word of every source in order to figure out whether it’s relevant, read or skim only parts of each source, like the abstract for an academic article or the first and last paragraphs of a news article. If you’re looking at the right parts, that should give you enough information to make an educated guess about relevance and currency. If your searches don’t give you relevant results, you might have to adjust your search. See the “Evaluating and Refining Your Search Strategy” chapter for more information on adjusting your search.

As you read or skim a source, it helps to know what you’re looking for. A good place to start is by breaking down your research question into its main ideas. Think of this like picking out the keywords, something we talked about in the “Keywords” chapter. Once you know those key ideas, it’s easier to spot when a source is actually helping you answer your question.

To be considered relevant to your research question, a source wouldn’t necessarily have to cover all of your main concepts. You can synthesize and make connections between the concepts. For more info on synthesis, see the “Synthesizing Information” chapter.

Evaluating for Relevance

Below are some questions you can ask yourself as you review a potential source to help you decide if it is actually relevant for your research need. Remember, you don’t need to read the entire article to make this judgment!

1. What is it about? The title will be your first clue. You can usually tell from the abstract or summary of the article whether an article is related to your topic. If there is not an abstract, read the introduction of the article, then scan the article headings.
2. What is the subject-area focus? Knowing the discipline of an article is an important clue in determining relevance. You may be able to tell from the title of the book/article or the journal title. If you are researching global warming activism for a political science class, an article on global warming from a chemistry journal will not be relevant.
3. Are you looking for recent information? If so, the publication date will be a critical clue as to whether the article or book is relevant.
4. Is it a book or an article? Some results lists will tell you specifically what the item is, but you can also tell from the citation. If your professor only wants you to use a specific type of resource, like journal articles, it is important to follow the assignment parameters.
5. Is it scholarly? If you are required to use only scholarly sources, you will need to figure out whether the item is scholarly or not. For books, look at the publisher. Is it a university press or other scholarly press? For articles, look at the title of the journal, not the article title. In most databases, you can limit yourself to just scholarly articles. Unsure if something is scholarly? Refer to our “Scholarly Research Articles” and “Other Academic Content” chapters.
6. What type of article is it? Not every article in a scholarly journal will be appropriate for your research. In addition to research articles and feature articles, journals contain book reviews, editorials, and interviews. However, you may need to read the abstract or even the beginning of the article before you know for sure. When in doubt about whether something is appropriate, read your assignment instructions again or ask your instructor.
7. If it is a research study, what type is it? This may only be relevant in courses that require a specific type of research article, such as empirical research. The abstract usually contains clues about the type of study. Also, look in the article for a “Methods” section, which should describe the type of research.