EVALUATION OF SOURCES

Just because information appears in print or on the Internet does not mean that it is true. As a student, you must learn to be critical of the sources you plan to use for your research. While you are in the process of gathering your information, you will need to be examining each source and measuring it against certain criteria.

EVALUATING INFORMATION FOUND IN PRINT SOURCES

1. Examine the source carefully for the following:
   • TITLE: Does it identify the scope and purpose of the book?
   • AUTHOR'S CREDENTIALS: What are the author’s credentials for writing this book/article? Biographical dictionaries will identify an author's qualifications and identify other publications he or she has written. Who's Who in America, Current Biography, Contemporary Authors, and Directory of American Scholars are a few noted biographical dictionaries.
   • PUBLISHER: Do you recognize the publisher? What bias might the publisher have? Does it publish in a variety of fields? Is it an established publisher with a good reputation?
   • DATE OF PUBLICATION: Examine the title page and back of the title page (verso) for the copyright date.
2. Read the preface and introduction carefully for:
   • stated purpose or limitations of the work
   • information on the scope of the work
   • special features of the work
   • comparison with other materials dealing with the same topic
3. Ask yourself the following questions about the text of the book or article:
   • are the stated objectives met?
   • is the writing clear and specific?
   • is it a book/article of fact or of opinion?
   • what evidence supports the statements and viewpoints of the author?
   • can the statements be verified by the reader or others?
   • do quoted references have definite citations?
   • how objective is the treatment of the subject matter?
   • are propaganda devices such as name calling, appeals to the emotions, generalities, or obvious biases regarding nationality, religion, race or sex employed?
   • is there a bibliography? an index?
   • is the source written for a general audience or a specialized one?
4. Examine book reviews of books you are using as sources. Book Review Digest and Book Review Index will identify reviews. Reviews will evaluate the book and will help you determine where an author stands in a range of critical opinion.
5. Katz's Magazines for Libraries will help you determine the audience, editorial direction and quality of over 6000 periodical titles.
6. Encyclopedia articles, in general and subject encyclopedias, often identify major authors in a particular field as well as offer discussions of some of the standard books. Note carefully the bibliography accompanying an article.
7. Research guides and bibliographies on your topic identify major authors and works and often provide evaluative commentary on sources. Consult a reference librarian for assistance in locating pertinent research guides and bibliographies.

The following web sites offer more guidance for evaluating print sources:

1. Evaluating Print Resources  from California State University Northridge
2. Thinking Critically About Print Sources from Bowling Green State University
3. Evaluating Print Resources from the University of Alabama

Also see What You Should Know about Information in Periodicals and Newspaper Articles.

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EVALUATING INFORMATION FOUND IN ELECTRONIC OR CD-ROM SOURCES

An important aspect of research is careful evaluation and selection of source material. The voluminous amount of articles available today with the use of electronic or CD-ROM databases makes this task a difficult, albeit an imperative, one. The following "tips" are offered to help you make better critical judgments about your sources.

Most of the electronic or CD-ROM databases found on library networks have been carefully selected and have been chosen because they meet the standards and criteria for credibility. Therefore, students using these databases can feel fairly certain that the articles they find will be of high quality, capable of measuring up the questions below.

1. Examine the source carefully for the following:
   • TITLE OF THE SOURCE THAT CONTAINS THE ARTICLE: Is it a well known, respected publication?
   • TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Does it identify the scope and purpose of the article?
   • AUTHOR'S CREDENTIALS: What are the author’s credentials for writing this article? Biographical dictionaries will identify an author's qualifications and identify other publications he or she has written. Who's Who in America, Current Biography, Contemporary Authors, and Directory of American Scholars are a few noted biographical dictionaries.
   • PUBLISHER: Do you recognize the publisher of the material? What bias might the publisher have? Does it publish in a variety of fields? Is it an established publisher with a good reputation?
   • DATE OF PUBLICATION: Examine the article for the date of publication. Do you require the most recent information about your topic, or is an older article satisfactory?
2. Ask yourself the following questions about the text of the article:
   • are the stated objectives met?
   • is the writing clear and specific?
   • is it an article of fact or of opinion?
   • what evidence supports the statements and viewpoints of the author?
   • can the statements be verified by the reader or others?
   • do quoted references have definite citations?
   • how objective is the treatment of the subject matter?
   • are propaganda devices such as name calling, appeals to the emotions, generalities, or obvious biases regarding nationality, religion, race or sex employed?
   • is there a bibliography?
   • is the source written for a general audience or a specialized one?

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EVALUATING INFORMATION FOUND ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

One of the major pitfalls in using the World Wide Web for research proposes is the student’s failure to view web documents discriminatingly. Anyone is capable of establishing a webpage today, and there is no filtering process that web information must pass through before being published on the web – it just appears, regardless of its authority or factualness. Therefore web documents must be viewed with a critical eye. The following links will give the researcher guidelines for evaluating web documents.

**Highly Recommended

• Checklist for Evaluating Information Found on the World Wide Web - from the Richland College Library.
• Evaluating Internet Sites 101 - designed by Carol Anne Germain from the University at Albany.
• **Evaluation Criteria - from New Mexico State University should not be missed. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Resources - also from NMSU, provides an excellent exercise in evaluating websites.
• How to Read a URL or Web Address - from the Richland College Library.
• **Information and Its Counterfeits: Propaganda, Misinformation and Disinformation - by Elizabeth E. Kirk of the Entrepreneurial Library Program at Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University.
• **Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation - A guide for library instruction - by Jim Kapoun with a great chart with the five criteria for evaluating web pages.
• Thinking Critically About World Wide Resources - from UCLA.
• Trash or Treasure Teaching Students How to Evaluate Internet Resources

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