In my recent blog posts about using the OSCOLA referencing system, we have spent a lot of time looking at how to determine whether a particular source is reliable. In this blog post, we will be looking at that from a more general viewpoint, considering the criteria you should have in mind when evaluating any source.
Of course, some types of source will always be more reliable than others and there are a few that you don’t really need to check, as they are such a generally accepted source. For example, you probably don’t need to do too much in the way of checking for a piece of legislation or a case transcript! Nevertheless, do make sure that you have found it in a reliable place, such as the government website for legislation or a legal database such as Westlaw for cases.
What Sources Might You Use?
So, what kinds of sources might you use? We have already considered cases and legislation above, which should be reliable. Journal articles are another very common source which you can also find on Westlaw. They may or may not be reliable, depending on the article in question!
Some of the more well-known journals, such as the Law Quarterly Review and the European Law Review, should generally be reliable, with factual content and all references included in the bibliography. They may also be subject to editorial or peer review, which should check facts and avoid the article being based purely on opinion.
Law reports are similar to journal articles but should be more reliable, if anything. Well-known ones are often used as the authoritative reference for a case, such as the Official Law Reports from the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. You can cite these official ones with confidence in their reliability.
Books are another common source, which again may or may not be reliable. Check for references and try to double-check any facts you can. Recommended textbooks should be fairly reliable and are certainly an excellent starting place for your legal research.
There are many other types of sources, such as websites, newspapers and magazines, but how reliable they are will vary hugely. Some can be excellent sources, others should probably be avoided! We will now look at some points to consider when evaluating a source for reliability.
How Do You Evaluate a Source?
There are a number of different factors that you can take into account when you are trying to determine whether or not a source is reliable. We will now look at some of these in turn and how you can apply this to the source you are evaluating.
A good place to start is less about the source itself and more about how it relates to your work – or doesn’t. This factor is relevancy i.e. how does the source tie into your work? If you are answering a problem scenario or writing a legal research essay, how much does the source have in common with the question asked?
An easy way to deal with this is to decide when you are first planning your answer what topics it involves and what sort of source would be relevant. There is no point in including a brilliant, otherwise reliable source that has nothing to do with the question set! This is why this factor is the first one to consider – it saves you from wasting time researching a source that you later realise isn’t relevant.
Another factor to take into account is currency, which is how recently the source was created. The more recent the source is, the more reliable it should be. This is not due to the author being inaccurate or doing poor research, simply that the law changes quickly and what was correct five years ago can have changed considerably by the time you are writing about it!
Therefore, it is best to always look for the most recent source possible. For example, the book you are reading may have a revised edition that you could read and refer to instead, or a new, similar case may have either upheld or reversed an earlier decision. It should be quite easy to check the date on most sources, although this may be more problematic with webpages, for example.
Next, consider the purpose of the source. Is it purely informative and factual, or is it writing to persuade with a lot of opinions mixed in? Consider what aim the author might have had when they created it. The more a source is based on opinion, the less reliable it is, as the author is presenting the topic as they want it to be seen, which may not be an unbiased viewpoint.
Similarly, you should question the authority of the source i.e. who wrote it and who published it. If an article is published in a well-known and respected journal, it is more likely to be reliable than one in a journal you’ve never heard of before. Likewise, check the author’s credentials. Look at what else they have written and what publications and institutes they have worked with before to make an informed decision about their reliability.
Finally, try to check the accuracy of the source. You can do this by fact-checking the information given and following any references. They should be using academic sources that they themselves have checked and used correctly in their work, without exaggerating or filling in the blanks to make the source seem to say more than it really does.
Wrapping Up
I hope that you now have a better idea of how to evaluate the sources you are using in your work for accuracy. As long as you do your research, all of the sources you end up including should strengthen your work. Come back in two weeks for another law blog post!
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