Choose your sources carefully. They reflect you and your research efforts. Consider the following:
Authority
Is the author / publisher / sponsor of the information reputable?
Where did the author get the information?
Are there references, citations, and / or a bibliography included with the information?
Has the information provided been frequently cited by others?
Accuracy
Is the information provided accurate?
Can the information provided be verified elsewhere?
Currency
When was the information published?
Are you using the most up-to-date version of the information?
Objectivity
Why does this information exist? Entertain, persuade, inform, other?
Is the information biased?
Coherence
Is the information understandable, logical, consistent?
Comprehensiveness
Is the information provided in enough depth and detail for your project?
Usefulness
Is the information relevant to your project?
Does the information support your project?
Audience
Who is the intended reader and/or user of the information?
Student, professional, consumer, customer, other?
A peer reviewed article is a scholarly document that has been submitted to an external publisher. The publisher internally reviewed the article and agreed that it has merit. The publisher sent the article without identifying the author(s) to known subject matter experts, around the world, in the field for the information covered in the article. The subject matter experts reviewed the article to ensure that it is accurate, reliable, worthy, and properly presented. The subject matter experts provided critical feedback to the publisher about the article. The publisher reviewed the feedback and deemed that the article still has merit. The publisher forwarded the comments to the author(s) and requested any changes. The author(s) acted upon the feedback and re-submitted the revised article to the publisher. The review cycle may be repeated a few times until both the publisher and the author(s) are satisfied. The publisher publishes the peer reviewed article with the names of the author(s) on it.
Web of Science - An abstract search database by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thompson Reuters) for Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE: 1900-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI: 1900-present), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). A basic search for an author will reveal the number of times a citation has been cited and an author's H Index. Journal Impact Factors journals included in the Web of Science are reported in the Scientific Journal Ranking.
Google Scholar Metrics - Google Scholar Metrics provides a metric to compare the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications. It summarizes recent citations to many publications to help authors as they consider where to publish their new research.
Eigenfactor – The Eigenfactor helps determine the importance of a scientific journal. The Eigenfactor score is metric calculated by considering the origin of the incoming citations, the number of journal articles published in that journal per year, and reflect how frequently an average researcher would access content from that journal. For a give number of citations, citations from more significant journals will result in a higher Eigenfactor score. The Article influence score, similar to the Journal Impact Factor, measures the average number of articles in the journal.
SciMango Journal Rank - Tools that helps compare or analyze science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains through the use of journal and country scientific indicators that were developed from information contained in the Scopus database. Journals can be compared or analyzed.
Journal Guide - A tool that helps identify relevant journals for publishing articles.