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Evaluating Sources
Evaluating Sources
So you've found what looks like some great information. That's great! Or is it? One tool a researcher needs to work developing is the ability to evaluate whether a source is:
A. useful
B. reliable or credible
The tools in the table below will help you to make some decisions about sources of information so you can judge for yourself whether the information you have found or the source you got it from is credible. Just click on the heading to access the tool.
an animated tutorial
about non-database websites i.e. not a Gale, EBSCO, or other database found on UG2GO, but other sites you might find in the Wild, Wild, West of the online world.
This tutorial looks a little juvenile, but was created by Acadia University for their students
Can you tell which of these gentlemen played Spiderman? Sometimes it's not easy to tell the difference between what's real or true and what's not--until you look into the background. This applies to online sources, as well. This tutorial will help sharpen your spidey senses.
Can you tell the difference?
Can you tell the difference?
A series of questions to ask about:
books
hard-copy journals
e-books
articles from databases
This resource published by the Cornell University Library is a series of questions to ask:
before you even read a book or article: things like how current it is, who the author is and whether he/she is an expert in the subject of the book or article, etc.
once you've read the book or article: It also helps you to think about the quality of the content of the article.
a series of questions to ask about ANY source of information:
Currency?
Relevance?
Authority?
Accuracy?
Purpose?
Here are some of the CRAAP questions:
Currency: Was the information published recently?
Relevance: Is it relevant to my topic and purpose?
Authority: Who is the author? What do I know about him/her/them?
Accuracy: Is there any information which is questionable?
Purpose: What is the author's purpose? What information has he/she excluded? If the purpose is to persuade, she/he might ignore facts that might work against the argument.
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