Below are links to websites that I generally find to be reliable depending on topic. Below are resources I’ve categorized into loosely defined groups.

Academic sources: Most reliable; peer–reviewed; still requires caution. While academia is fraught with tunnel vision, group think, methodological bias, etc. a significant part of academic scholarship is built on the scientific method and the peer review process. Each academic field (Economics, Sociology, etc.)  is generally self-regulating, which has its pitfalls, but the manner in which these fields are able to avoid the pitfalls is an ongoing process. Insofar as Political Science is concerned, the flagship association for our field is the American Politlcal Science Association (APSA).  There are many others, but the APSA has great influence over the standards for publication, such as DA-RT, the Data Access  Research Transparancy initiative. DA-RT is our attempt to affirm and establish guidelines for publishers, reviewers, and researchers. The academic links below are not the sources themselves, but services we use to access articles published in journals, court cases, and other primary sources. One of the primary problems with these sources is that they are heavily gate-kept, requiring special subscrition access that most folks don’t have the resources for.

Wire Services:  Newswires are subscription services that news organizations depend on for the most reliable source of information around the world. Their primary motivation is accuracy, since their customers are organizations that depend on them for their own reporting. Similar to academic sources, these services are difficult to access. A Bloomberg Terminal license, for instance, costs a corporate clients tens of thousands of dollars per user.

Fact–checking sites: Useful sites for quick verification of rumors and propaganda campaigns. Other sites, like ProPublic and OpenSecrets are very useful for compiling government filings, donor profiles, money traansactions, etc. which can be very difficult to find without professional knowledge and experience on where to locate this data

Investigative organizations: These are organizations that are motivated by uncovering corruption. That’s good and bad. They can be heavily influenced by their funders, ideology, and politics. Not that Academia or the wire services aren’t, but these organizations live and breathe off uncovering sordid relationships, real and imagined.

Newspapers and Media: Newspaper organizations are generally reliable for discreet facts, but there are many editorial decisions made about what gets covered, how much resources are used to cover a topic, and their reliance on insider sources. In my experience, print reporters on the ground are highly motivated by accuracy, but have pressures to meet deadlines and deliver on their assignments. Multi–media organizations have additional pressure to produce story lines that capture the largest possible audience.

Advocacy organizations: Many hire specialized researchers who are very good, but who are nevertheless on a mission. This makes them very reliable for understanding their issue, but generally their work has a ideological, political, or advocacy purpose.  This makes them excellent sources for information, research, opinions, etc. on specific topics, but the direction of everything they do is motivated by their mission.

Social Media Advocacy: Can you use social media, like TikTok, Instagram or even podcasts in your research? Of course you can! The University of Chicago Manual of Style online guide has that covered. So does the American SociologicalAssociation. The Chicago Style Guide also has some advice on citing AI generative tools. This is going to be a work in progress.

There are some very informative social media accounts that advocate for issues and policies. Below are some I follow, but don’t necessarily endorse. Just as with all advocacy organizations, it is important to be aware of their intent. Before using any social media as a “source”, check their credentials to ensure they have actual expertise. You will note that many of these social media accounts have links to their institutions, Substacks, publications, etc.

I generally cite stories from media organizations like CNN, NBCNews, Fox News, etc. not as a source for facts, but to demonstrate that the story has broad influence or appeal. Along with doing their own reporting, these organizations will repackage stories from the newswires, or they will pick up stories from the wire and deploy their own resources to follow up on the story for their audience. While an organization like NBCNews employs many mechanisms to ensure accuracy, they are highly motivated by deadlines, visibility, and audience appeal. I generally don’t recommend citing anything from a “news show” from any network news organization, unless the show itself is the subject.

 

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