Evaluating Sources: SIFT & PICK, RADAR, & ACT UP
You may already be aware that there is inherent privilege in the publishing industry.
More specifically you may have noticed that the majority of published scholarly papers are written by white scholars and peer-reviewed by white peers. While these scholarly resources are valuable it does mean that nonwhite scholars do not have the same privilege and opportunity to publish their work. Without publishing privilege nonwhite resources never make it to your search results meaning that you are missing out on an important segment of research.
One thing we can do to push against this privilege is by actively seeking other places for scholarly research. This might look like open access journals, scholarly blogs, zines, and other free scholarly resources.
Open-Access Journals
There are several avenues worth exploring to get at research that is not represented in our databases due to privilege in publishing. Open Access Journals can be a really great resource. Open Access (OA) Publishing is free and allows access to anyone. This means research is not hidden behind and expensive pay wall. Keep in mind that not every Open Access Journal is on the up and up. There are scams and shoddy research/reviews that get published in some OA journals. But there are ways for you to evaluate those OA journals
- Find an OA Journala community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
- Evaluating OA Journalshelpful tools and discuss criteria to consider when choosing a publishing venue as well as tips for identifying and avoiding so-called predatory publishers, an increasingly common feature on the scholarly publishing landscape.
- Retraction Watcha blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers and on related topics.
Other Scholarly Sites
- Women also know stuffOur searchable database helps academics and journalists identify and connect with women academics conducting research on a multitude of issues related to the study of politics.
- Women also know historyOur searchable website makes it easier to identify and connect with women historians working in a wide range of fields and professional settings.
- SourcelistSourcelist is a database of qualified experts in technology policy from diverse backgrounds. It is built on the principle that technology policy stands to benefit from the inclusion of the ideas, perspectives, and recommendations of a broader array of people.
- Cite black womenCite Black Women engages with social media, aesthetic representation (our t-shirts) and public dialogue to push people to critically rethink the politics of race gender and knowledge production.
After Graduation
Once you graduate from Simmons, you will lose access to all the library databases. As you move beyond Simmons, here is a site that curates freely available (scholarly included) resources.
- Radically Informedlist of free resources to use for scholarly research.
Using Blogs
Another avenue is to find scholarly blogs. Oftentimes professors and researchers are talking about their work on blog sites. Just like with any other resource, you will need to evaluate the blog to see if it is credible or not. Here is a website to help you do that
- Using Blogshow to evaluate blogs.
Using Zines
Lastly, you can incorporate zines into your research. While you might not be able to cite them in your work (ask your professor), you can certainly read zines for background information and for that invaluable first-hand account. Primary sources (folks writing about a topic that they are directly affected by) gives a voice to your research.
Thanks!
Thank you to Dawn Stahura of Simmons University for generously allowing us to reuse her "Evaluating Sources" Research Guide.
