Information Management: Evaluating Resources
You may be thinking, "I found all this information, and it's on my topic. What else do I need to know?" The answer is, "Quite a lot." As you already know, not all information is equal. If you've ever looked at the headlines on the supermarket tabloids, you know that appearing in print is no guarantee of accuracy. If you consider how often the weather report is wrong, you'll know that the broadcast media are not particularly reliable either. Even reputable sources sometimes publish inaccurate reports. Remember the Florida election results?
Not only popular sources require evaluation. Scholarly research is not immune to error, hoaxes, or downright fraud. Publication in a scholarly journal certainly increases the authority of an article, but it does not guarantee its accuracy. Even experts can make mistakes.
Evaluation is not just a matter of determining accuracy and reliablity. Ideas may be controversial, or open to question, without being wrong. Older materials will obviously not reflect discoveries made after they were published. All material, no matter how objective it appears, will contain some bias. Using information sources appropriately requires you to think critically about the information, and place each source in the context of the available knowledge about your topic.
Criteria for Evaluation
Here are some of the standard criteria that you should use to evaluate information resources. You can use the questions below to help determine how to use the resources you have found, how much you should rely on the information they contain, and how much weight you should give to the ideas presented. Additional tips and examples for evaluating Internet resources are on a separate page.
- Authority
- Who is the person who created this source?
- What are her/his credentials? What makes him/her an expert on this subject?
- Who publishes this material, or makes it available?
- Has the material been subjected to the referee process prior to publication?
- Accuracy
- Are the facts presented in the material correct?
- How do you know? Can they be verified using an outside source?
- Currency
- When was the material published? Does it update other sources and build on past research?
- If information of this type is subject to frequent change, how often is the source revised? Do you have access to the most current version?
- Clarity
- Is the information well-organized? Can you identify the main points?
- Is the argument repetitive or convoluted?
- Are there errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation?
- Do graphical elements such as tables, charts, or illustrations help to make the author's point?
- Purpose
- For what purpose was this source created? To inform or to persuade?
To explain or to sell? To document or to entertain?
- Who is the intended audience of the publication? For whom was the author writing?
- Content
- Is it a primary source? Does this work help form the foundations of research in the field?
- Are the author's arguments supported by the evidence presented?
- Is the information presented as fact or opinion?
- Does the source present a balanced view of the material?
Leslie Murtha, 6 Feb 2002