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Misinformation and disinformation are appearing in well-regarded publications. Under pressure to “publish or perish”, academics can now turn to artificial intelligence (AI), and fake papers are now . For our students conducting research online, this makes finding credible sources an increasingly treacherous endeavour. 

How can you best help students find, and learn from, high-quality sources? Based on my research into how students engage in source evaluation, here is my advice.

Don’t just signpost your university library. Celebrate it

Compared with your university library, it’s true that freely available scholarly search engines, and some AI tools, can offer students a greater number of relevant texts when searching for sources. However, the results could include articles in disreputable journals, or even fabricated research. As novices in their disciplines, it’s often difficult for students to discern what can, or cannot, be trusted.  

Collections curated by the library have not been randomly selected by an algorithm. They’ve been hand-picked by library staff to support teaching and learning. Simply put, when you advise students to stay within this secure learning environment, they are less likely to encounter junk.

Do you make the case for finding sources through your library, or do you present it as one option among many?

Help students develop their own criteria for selecting sources

Everyone has their reasons for selecting or rejecting sources of information. Exploring your own source selection criteria can be very insightful. Demonstrate searching your library database for reading on a topic, and talk through which sources you would instantly reject and which might be of interest.  Discuss what knowledge you draw on when selecting sources, and what potentially dangerous shortcuts you make.

That way, you can highlight reasons for selection beyond “it’s relevant to my assignment”. For example, if you tend to read sources written by specific experts, help your students explore ways to establish who’s an authority in your field. You can also discuss what types of sources are suitable for your students’ level of knowledge. Are they ready for high-level journal articles or should they stick to introductory textbooks? 

Helping students develop their own source selection criteria differs from prescribing an off-the-shelf checklist. These checklists are not discipline-specific and typically focus on accuracy, objectivity or reliability – probably not the primary lens a literature student should use when choosing between interpretations of Hamlet. They can also be unrealistically long and detailed, making them an interesting classroom activity but rarely adopted by students in the long term.  

Have you ever had students discuss why they chose a source? Can they explain, and justify, their source selection criteria?

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Evaluation shouldn’t stop once you’ve found a ‘good’ source

I recently read an economics student’s essay about the electric car industry which, citing a source, mentioned the US’ steadfast commitment to net zero. Discussing the citation, it was clear the student had selected a solid article from a top journal which was full of interesting insights. It was, however, published months before President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, making this statement out of date. Realising his mistake, the student recognised that finding a “good” source is not a green light to accept everything within it.

Students need to slow down, not just when selecting sources but also when reading relevant content. In class, help students focus on one specific, contested idea from a reading list text, and consider how it could be evaluated. Would it be best to:

• Reflect – how does this idea compare with your existing knowledge?
• Compare – how does this idea compare with ideas in other sources?
• Analyse – how strong is the evidence for this idea?

Next, drawing on this framework, students can present one source they’ve been reading – why did they choose it, and how did they evaluate specific ideas from it?

Let reading be learning

Think back to when you had a mind-changing revelation at university. I’m sure it wasn’t while you were hastily assembling an assignment just before the deadline. Picking and choosing ideas from sources like this is very different from slower, exploratory reading and learning.

When students are pushed for time, they’re likely to turn to AI to summarise or “find” relevant bits from sources. Sure, it can help you finish that assignment, but it can’t learn on your behalf.

On your course, is there time for slower reading? If speed = distance or time, how much ground do you expect your students to cover? Do your students know what it feels like to take it down a gear?

Research is a more hazardous journey for today’s students than it was when I was studying. There are new predators, and new alluring technologies full of false promises. But if we guide students to focus on learning while making careful research decisions – where they search, what they select and how they evaluate specific ideas – they might just make it through safely, and learn something transformational along the way.

Tom Hayward is English for academic purposes associate lecturer at the UCL Centre for Languages and International Education. 

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