diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 158ef41..14c4e72 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 #Python Specific ignores
 *.pyc
 
+#may contain authentication information
+sources.cfg
+
 #THINGS WE WOULD NEVER EVER WANT!
 #ignore thumbnails created by windows
 Thumbs.db
diff --git a/FourmiCrawler/sources/ChemSpider.py b/FourmiCrawler/sources/ChemSpider.py
index 8c0bd8b..87a6ee7 100644
--- a/FourmiCrawler/sources/ChemSpider.py
+++ b/FourmiCrawler/sources/ChemSpider.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from FourmiCrawler.items import Result
 
 
 # [TODO] - Maybe clean up usage of '.extract()[0]', because of possible IndexError exception.
-
+# [TODO] - Add checks at search request and extendedCompoundInfo on whether the token was valid or not
 
 class ChemSpider(Source):
     """ChemSpider scraper for synonyms and properties
@@ -20,19 +20,23 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
     somewhere.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        Source.__init__(self)
-
     website = 'http://www.chemspider.com/*'
 
-    # [TODO] - Save and access token of specific user.
-    search = ('Search.asmx/SimpleSearch?query=%s&token='
-              '052bfd06-5ce4-43d6-bf12-89eabefd2338')
+    search = 'Search.asmx/SimpleSearch?query=%s&token='
     structure = 'Chemical-Structure.%s.html'
-    extendedinfo = ('MassSpecAPI.asmx/GetExtendedCompoundInfo?csid=%s&token='
-                    '052bfd06-5ce4-43d6-bf12-89eabefd2338')
+    extendedinfo = 'MassSpecAPI.asmx/GetExtendedCompoundInfo?csid=%s&token='
+
+    def __init__(self, config={}):
+        Source.__init__(self, config)
+        self.cfg = config
+        self.ignore_list = []
+        if 'token' not in self.cfg or self.cfg['token'] == '':
+            log.msg('ChemSpider token not set or empty, search/MassSpec API '
+                    'not available', level=log.WARNING)
+            self.cfg['token'] = ''
+        self.search += self.cfg['token']
+        self.extendedinfo += self.cfg['token']
 
-    ignore_list = []
 
     def parse(self, response):
         sel = Selector(response)
@@ -44,8 +48,7 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
 
         return requests
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_properties(sel):
+    def parse_properties(self, sel):
         """scrape Experimental Data and Predicted ACD/Labs tabs"""
         properties = []
 
@@ -76,13 +79,12 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
                 prop_value = m.group(1)
                 prop_conditions = m.group(2)
 
-            new_prop = Result({
-                'attribute': prop_name,
-                'value': prop_value,
-                'source': 'ChemSpider Predicted - ACD/Labs Tab',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': prop_conditions
-            })
+            new_prop = self.newresult(
+                attribute=prop_name,
+                value=prop_value,
+                source='ChemSpider Predicted - ACD/Labs Tab',
+                conditions=prop_conditions
+            )
             properties.append(new_prop)
             log.msg('CS prop: |%s| |%s| |%s|' %
                     (new_prop['attribute'], new_prop['value'], new_prop['source']),
@@ -100,14 +102,11 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
             if line.xpath('span/text()'):
                 property_name = line.xpath('span/text()').extract()[0].rstrip()
             else:
-                new_prop = Result({
-                    'attribute': property_name[:-1],
-                    'value': line.xpath('text()').extract()[0].rstrip(),
-                    'source': line.xpath(
-                        'strong/text()').extract()[0].rstrip(),
-                    'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                    'conditions': ''
-                })
+                new_prop = self.newresult(
+                    attribute=property_name[:-1],
+                    value=line.xpath('text()').extract()[0].rstrip(),
+                    source=line.xpath('strong/text()').extract()[0].rstrip(),
+                )
                 properties.append(new_prop)
                 log.msg('CS prop: |%s| |%s| |%s|' %
                         (new_prop['attribute'], new_prop['value'],
@@ -183,25 +182,31 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
         }
         return synonym
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_extendedinfo(response):
+    def parse_extendedinfo(self, response):
         """Scrape data from the ChemSpider GetExtendedCompoundInfo API"""
         sel = Selector(response)
         properties = []
         names = sel.xpath('*').xpath('name()').extract()
         values = sel.xpath('*').xpath('text()').extract()
         for (name, value) in zip(names, values):
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': name,
-                'value': value,  # These values have no unit!
-                'source': 'ChemSpider ExtendedCompoundInfo',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': ''
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=name,
+                value=value,  # These values have no unit!
+                source='ChemSpider ExtendedCompoundInfo',
+            )
             if result['value']:
                 properties.append(result)
         return properties
 
+    def newresult(self, attribute, value, conditions='', source='ChemSpider'):
+        return Result({
+                'attribute': attribute,
+                'value': value,
+                'source': source,
+                'reliability': self.cfg['reliability'],
+                'conditions': conditions
+                })
+
     def parse_searchrequest(self, response):
         """Parse the initial response of the ChemSpider Search API """
         sel = Selector(response)
@@ -224,7 +229,7 @@ class ChemSpider(Source):
                         callback=self.parse_extendedinfo)]
 
     def new_compound_request(self, compound):
-        if compound in self.ignore_list:  # [TODO] - add regular expression
+        if compound in self.ignore_list or self.cfg['token'] == '':
             return None
         searchurl = self.website[:-1] + self.search % compound
         log.msg('chemspider compound', level=log.DEBUG)
diff --git a/FourmiCrawler/sources/NIST.py b/FourmiCrawler/sources/NIST.py
index 6e8fabb..3c323ef 100644
--- a/FourmiCrawler/sources/NIST.py
+++ b/FourmiCrawler/sources/NIST.py
@@ -22,10 +22,12 @@ class NIST(Source):
 
     search = 'cgi/cbook.cgi?Name=%s&Units=SI&cTP=on'
 
-    ignore_list = set()
+    cfg = {}
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        Source.__init__(self)
+    def __init__(self, config={}):
+        Source.__init__(self, config)
+        self.ignore_list = set()
+        self.cfg = config
 
     def parse(self, response):
         sel = Selector(response)
@@ -114,13 +116,10 @@ class NIST(Source):
 
         requests = []
         for key, value in data.iteritems():
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': key,
-                'value': value,
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': ''
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=key,
+                value=value
+            )
             requests.append(result)
 
         return requests
@@ -150,19 +149,16 @@ class NIST(Source):
                 name = m.group(1)
                 condition = m.group(2)
 
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': name,
-                'value': data[1] + ' ' + data[2],
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': condition
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=name,
+                value=data[1] + ' ' + data[2],
+                conditions=condition
+            )
             log.msg('NIST: |%s|' % data, level=log.DEBUG)
             results.append(result)
         return results
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_transition_data(table, summary):
+    def parse_transition_data(self, table, summary):
         """Parses the table containing properties regarding phase changes"""
         results = []
 
@@ -174,19 +170,16 @@ class NIST(Source):
 
         for tr in table.xpath('tr[td]'):
             tds = tr.xpath('td/text()').extract()
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': summary,
-                'value': tds[0] + ' ' + unit,
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': '%s K, (%s -> %s)' % (tds[1], tds[2], tds[3])
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=summary,
+                value=tds[0] + ' ' + unit,
+                conditions='%s K, (%s -> %s)' % (tds[1], tds[2], tds[3])
+            )
             results.append(result)
 
         return results
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_generic_data(table, summary):
+    def parse_generic_data(self, table, summary):
         """Parses the common tables of 4 and 5 rows. Assumes they are of the
         form:
         Symbol (unit)|Temperature (K)|Method|Reference|Comment
@@ -202,36 +195,30 @@ class NIST(Source):
 
         for tr in table.xpath('tr[td]'):
             tds = tr.xpath('td/text()').extract()
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': summary,
-                'value': tds[0] + ' ' + unit,
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': '%s K' % tds[1]
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=summary,
+                value=tds[0] + ' ' + unit,
+                conditions='%s K' % tds[1]
+            )
             results.append(result)
         return results
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_antoine_data(table, summary):
+    def parse_antoine_data(self, table, summary):
         """Parse table containing parameters for the Antione equation"""
         results = []
 
         for tr in table.xpath('tr[td]'):
             tds = tr.xpath('td/text()').extract()
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': summary,
-                'value': 'A=%s, B=%s, C=%s' % (tds[1], tds[2], tds[3]),
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': '%s K' % tds[0]
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=summary,
+                value='A=%s, B=%s, C=%s' % (tds[1], tds[2], tds[3]),
+                conditions='%s K' % tds[0]
+            )
             results.append(result)
 
         return results
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def parse_individual_datapoints(response):
+    def parse_individual_datapoints(self, response):
         """Parses the page linked from aggregate data"""
         sel = Selector(response)
         table = sel.xpath('//table[@class="data"]')[0]
@@ -258,17 +245,24 @@ class NIST(Source):
             if m:
                 uncertainty = '+- %s ' % m.group(1)
                 # [TODO]: get the plusminus sign working in here
-            result = Result({
-                'attribute': name,
-                'value': '%s %s%s' % (tds[0], uncertainty, unit),
-                'source': 'NIST',
-                'reliability': 'Unknown',
-                'conditions': condition
-            })
+            result = self.newresult(
+                attribute=name,
+                value='%s %s%s' % (tds[0], uncertainty, unit),
+                conditions=condition
+            )
             results.append(result)
 
         return results
 
+    def newresult(self, attribute, value, conditions=''):
+        return Result({
+            'attribute': attribute,
+            'value': value,
+            'source': 'NIST',
+            'reliability': self.cfg['reliability'],
+            'conditions': conditions
+            })
+
     def new_compound_request(self, compound):
         if compound not in self.ignore_list:
             self.ignore_list.update(compound)
diff --git a/FourmiCrawler/sources/WikipediaParser.py b/FourmiCrawler/sources/WikipediaParser.py
index 868b49f..8722cef 100644
--- a/FourmiCrawler/sources/WikipediaParser.py
+++ b/FourmiCrawler/sources/WikipediaParser.py
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@ class WikipediaParser(Source):
     __spider = None
     searched_compounds = []
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        Source.__init__(self)
+    cfg = {}
+
+    def __init__(self, config={}):
+        Source.__init__(self, config)
+        self.cfg = config
 
     def parse(self, response):
         """ Distributes the above described behaviour """
@@ -44,13 +47,10 @@ class WikipediaParser(Source):
         prop_names = tr_list[::2]
         prop_values = tr_list[1::2]
         for i, prop_name in enumerate(prop_names):
-            item = Result({
-                'attribute': prop_name.extract().encode('utf-8'),
-                'value': prop_values[i].extract().encode('utf-8'),
-                'source': "Wikipedia",
-                'reliability': "Unknown",
-                'conditions': ""
-            })
+            item = self.newresult(
+                attribute=prop_name.extract().encode('utf-8'),
+                value=prop_values[i].extract().encode('utf-8')
+            )
             items.append(item)
             log.msg('Wiki prop: |%s| |%s| |%s|' % (item['attribute'], item['value'], item['source']), level=log.DEBUG)
 
@@ -61,13 +61,10 @@ class WikipediaParser(Source):
             log.msg('item: %s' % tablerow.xpath('./th').xpath('normalize-space(string())'), level=log.DEBUG)
             if tablerow.xpath('./th').xpath('normalize-space(string())') and tablerow.xpath('./td').xpath(
                     'normalize-space(string())'):
-                item = Result({
-                    'attribute': tablerow.xpath('./th').xpath('normalize-space(string())').extract()[0].encode('utf-8'),
-                    'value': tablerow.xpath('./td').xpath('normalize-space(string())').extract()[0].encode('utf-8'),
-                    'source': "Wikipedia",
-                    'reliability': "Unknown",
-                    'conditions': ""
-                })
+                item = self.newresult(
+                    attribute=tablerow.xpath('./th').xpath('normalize-space(string())').extract()[0].encode('utf-8'),
+                    value=tablerow.xpath('./td').xpath('normalize-space(string())').extract()[0].encode('utf-8'),
+                )
                 items.append(item)
                 log.msg(
                     'Wiki prop: |attribute: %s| |value: %s| |%s|' % (item['attribute'], item['value'], item['source']),
@@ -116,4 +113,13 @@ class WikipediaParser(Source):
         """ find external links, named 'Identifiers' to different sources. """
         links = sel.xpath('//span[contains(concat(" ",normalize-space(@class)," "),"reflink")]/a'
                           '[contains(concat(" ",normalize-space(@class)," "),"external")]/@href').extract()
-        return links
\ No newline at end of file
+        return links
+
+    def newresult(self, attribute, value):
+        return Result({
+            'attribute': attribute,
+            'value': value,
+            'source': 'Wikipedia',
+            'reliability': self.cfg['reliability'],
+            'conditions': ''
+            })
diff --git a/FourmiCrawler/sources/source.py b/FourmiCrawler/sources/source.py
index d289d72..a609bb9 100644
--- a/FourmiCrawler/sources/source.py
+++ b/FourmiCrawler/sources/source.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class Source:
     website = "http://something/*"  # Regex of URI's the source is able to parse
     _spider = None
 
-    def __init__(self):
+    def __init__(self, config={}):
         """
         Initiation of a new Source
         """
diff --git a/FourmiCrawler/spider.py b/FourmiCrawler/spider.py
index 60f7363..5c09f07 100644
--- a/FourmiCrawler/spider.py
+++ b/FourmiCrawler/spider.py
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@ class FourmiSpider(Spider):
     A spider writen for the Fourmi Project which calls upon all available sources to request and scrape data.
     """
     name = "FourmiSpider"
-    _sources = []
-    synonyms = set()
 
     def __init__(self, compound=None, selected_attributes=[".*"], *args, **kwargs):
         """
@@ -18,6 +16,8 @@ class FourmiSpider(Spider):
         :param compound: compound that will be searched.
         :param selected_attributes: A list of regular expressions that the attributes should match.
         """
+        self._sources = []
+        self.synonyms = set()
         super(FourmiSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self.synonyms.add(compound)
         self.selected_attributes = selected_attributes
diff --git a/tests/test_configurator.py b/tests/test_configurator.py
index 8cc61ea..eb43cb7 100644
--- a/tests/test_configurator.py
+++ b/tests/test_configurator.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import unittest
 from utils.configurator import Configurator
 
+import ConfigParser
 
 class TestConfigurator(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -24,4 +25,26 @@ class TestConfigurator(unittest.TestCase):
     #     self.conf.start_log("test.log", True)
     #     self.conf.start_log("test.log", False)
     #     self.conf.start_log(None, True)
-    #     self.conf.start_log(None, False)
\ No newline at end of file
+    #     self.conf.start_log(None, False)
+
+    def test_read_sourceconfiguration(self):
+        config = self.conf.read_sourceconfiguration()
+        self.assertIsInstance(config, ConfigParser.ConfigParser)
+
+    def test_get_section(self):
+        config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+        section = self.conf.get_section(config, 'test')
+        self.assertIn('reliability', section)
+        self.assertEquals(section['reliability'], '')
+
+        config.set('DEFAULT', 'reliability', 'Low')
+
+        section = self.conf.get_section(config, 'test')
+        self.assertEquals(section['reliability'], 'Low')
+
+        config.add_section('test')
+        config.set('test', 'var', 'Maybe')
+
+        section = self.conf.get_section(config, 'test')
+        self.assertEquals(section['reliability'], 'Low')
+        self.assertEqual(section['var'], 'Maybe')
diff --git a/tests/test_spider.py b/tests/test_spider.py
index 89d6cfc..589a571 100644
--- a/tests/test_spider.py
+++ b/tests/test_spider.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import unittest
 from scrapy.http import Request
 
 from FourmiCrawler import spider
-from FourmiCrawler.sources.ChemSpider import ChemSpider
+from FourmiCrawler.sources.NIST import NIST
 from FourmiCrawler.sources.source import Source
 
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class TestFoumiSpider(unittest.TestCase):
         self.spi.add_source(src)
         self.assertEqual(self.spi.start_requests(), [])
 
-        src2 = ChemSpider()
+        src2 = NIST()
         self.spi.add_source(src2)
         requests = self.spi.start_requests()
         self.assertGreater(len(requests), 0)
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ class TestFoumiSpider(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(self.spi.get_synonym_requests("new_compound"), [])
         self.assertIn("new_compound", self.spi.synonyms)
 
-        src2 = ChemSpider()
+        src2 = NIST()
         self.spi.add_source(src2)
         self.assertIsInstance(self.spi.get_synonym_requests("other_compound")[0], Request)
         self.assertIn("other_compound", self.spi.synonyms)
-        self.assertEqual(self.spi.get_synonym_requests("other_compound"), [])
\ No newline at end of file
+        self.assertEqual(self.spi.get_synonym_requests("other_compound"), [])
diff --git a/utils/configurator.py b/utils/configurator.py
index 90e0320..dfc6330 100644
--- a/utils/configurator.py
+++ b/utils/configurator.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from scrapy import log
 from scrapy.utils.project import get_project_settings
-
+import ConfigParser
 
 class Configurator:
     """
@@ -47,3 +47,35 @@ class Configurator:
                 log.start(logstdout=False, loglevel=log.DEBUG)
             else:
                 log.start(logstdout=True, loglevel=log.WARNING)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def read_sourceconfiguration():
+        """
+        This function reads sources.cfg in the main folder for configuration
+        variables for sources
+        :return a ConfigParser object of sources.cfg
+        """
+        config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+        config.read('sources.cfg') # [TODO]: should be softcoded eventually
+        return config
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_section(config, sourcename):
+        """
+        This function reads a config section labeled in variable sourcename and
+        tests whether the reliability variable is set else set to empty string.
+        Return the default section if the labeled config section does not exist
+        :param config: a ConfigParser object
+        :param sourcename: the name of the section to be read
+        :return a dictionary of the section in the config labeled in sourcename
+        """
+        section = dict()
+        if config.has_section(sourcename):
+            section = dict(config.items(sourcename))
+        elif config.defaults():
+            section = config.defaults()
+        if 'reliability' not in section:
+            log.msg('Reliability not set for %s' % sourcename,
+                    level=log.WARNING)
+            section['reliability'] = ''
+        return section
diff --git a/utils/sourceloader.py b/utils/sourceloader.py
index b6bb0fd..9b33657 100644
--- a/utils/sourceloader.py
+++ b/utils/sourceloader.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import os
 import re
 
 from FourmiCrawler.sources.source import Source
-
+from utils.configurator import Configurator
 
 class SourceLoader:
     sources = []
@@ -11,18 +11,23 @@ class SourceLoader:
     def __init__(self, rel_dir="../FourmiCrawler/sources"):
         """
         The initiation of a SourceLoader, selects and indexes a directory for usable sources.
+        Also loads a configuration file for Sources and passes the arguments in
+        the named section to the source
         :param rel_dir: A relative path to a directory.
         """
         path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
         path += "/" + rel_dir
         known_parser = set()
 
+        config = Configurator.read_sourceconfiguration()
+
         for py in [f[:-3] for f in os.listdir(path) if f.endswith('.py') and f != '__init__.py']:
             mod = __import__('.'.join([rel_dir.replace("../", "").replace("/", "."), py]), fromlist=[py])
             classes = [getattr(mod, x) for x in dir(mod) if inspect.isclass(getattr(mod, x))]
             for cls in classes:
                 if issubclass(cls, Source) and cls not in known_parser:
-                    self.sources.append(cls())  # [review] - Would we ever need arguments for the parsers?
+                    sourcecfg = Configurator.get_section(config, cls.__name__)
+                    self.sources.append(cls(sourcecfg))
                     known_parser.add(cls)
 
     def include(self, source_names):
@@ -55,4 +60,4 @@ class SourceLoader:
             string += "Source: " + src.__class__.__name__
             string += " - "
             string += "URI: " + src.website + "\n"
-        return string
\ No newline at end of file
+        return string