Once a book or article is in your hands (or on your computer screen), look for the signs of reliability:

• Who published the book?
• Which journal is the article from?
• Whose Web page are you looking at?

If your topic is "The Mexican Revolution" and you have narrowed it to the theme "The Land Reform Program of Emiliano Zapata," you need to ask yourself some questions to confirm the reliability of your source materials:

• If you are considering a book about Zapata, does a commercial or scholarly publisher like a university press publish the book? For a research project, books by scholarly publishers are usually more reliable.
• Read the introduction or preface. Is the author a scholar? Is she or he a university professor or a respected nonuniversity writer?
• The title of a book usually provides clues as to its reliability. Which title sounds more serious: A Tourist’s Guide to Mexico or Zapata and the Mexican Revolution? Did you find the article in the Journal of Mexican History or in A Monthly Guide to Mexican Films?
• If you found information on a Web page, who is the author? Not everyone who writes a book can get it published in print, but anyone who wants to "publish" on the Web can do so. You need to be especially careful if you are using a source that you found on the Web. Be sure to ask your instructor about Web sources before you use them in your paper.