All three of the articles below are about the same topic (online dating,) but each is written at a very different “level.” When you choose sources for an academic paper, you must ensure they are at the right level for your audience. Most college courses expect “medium” or “high” level sources. Some courses will expect you to use only “high” level sources.

Scan each article and read the first few paragraphs to determine what “level” is indicated.

Is the information at a low level? (brief, simple, easy to understand, often superficial)

Medium? (somewhere in the middle)

or a high level? (longer, more complex language/sentence structure, more evidence focused)

click here to see article #1 

click here to see article #2

click here to see article #3

Watch this video to see how you did and learn more about how to evaluate a source’s level:

Licenses and attribution

“Is your source at the right level for an academic audience?” by Jeff Sanger is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0