As Women's and Gender Studies scholars, we must understand the ways that scholarship is created, and acknowledge the barriers that many women, Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and LGBTQ+ folks face when creating knowledge and new sources of information. Research Librarian Dawn Stahura created the ACT UP method for evaluating sources as a way for scholars to critically examine their sources and the hierarchies of privilege within the world of scholarly publication. The ACT UP method was directly inspired by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, the social justice advocacy group founded in the 1980s. Each letter in the acronym ACT UP represents a different aspect of a source to evaluate when conducting research.
A: Author
- Who wrote this resource and why?
- Do they have any affiliations and/or conflicts of interest?
C: Currency
- When was this source written/last updated?
- Is it up-to-date?
T: Truth
- How accurate and reliable is this source?
- Can the claims be verified in at least three other sources?
- Are there many typos or grammatical mistakes?
U: Unbiased
- It's O.K. to have viewpoints and biases (everyone does!), but it is imperative to be impartial; does the author try to hide their opinions?
- Who funded the research?
P: Privilege
- Who is writing about this topic?
- Who is being left out of this conversation, and why?
- Scholarship can come in multiple formats, not just scholarly journals (i.e., blogs, zines)
