Researching tips - Evaluating information sources
Why do I need to evaluate information?
Being able to critically evaluate information that you find to use for your assignments is crucial in the completion of your academic work.
Evaluation of information involves being able to decide if the information sources are valuable and worth following up on. The information contained within the resource must be adequate for your requirements. You need to be able to judge the quality of the information that you are finding.
What criteria do I need to evaluate information?
The criteria listed may assist you to evaluate information resources and sources.
Relevancy |
Currency |
Reliability |
Accuracy |
Objectivity
It is always important to evaluate any information you find to see if it is suitable to use in your research.
- Is the information useful and does it support your work?
- Does the information cover your topic in enough depth and scope?
- Does the retrieved information cover your topic from the appropriate source? Do you require Primary Sources - which contain new or original material? (eg. diaries). Do you require Secondary Sources - which contain information that has been analysed or interpreted? (eg. books, journal articles)
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- Does the information relate to the timeframe of your topic?
- What is the publication date of the resource eg. book or webpage?
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- Does the information give credibility to your work?
- Who is the author? Are they known in their field?
- Are they associated with reputable organisations? e.g. University or official body?
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- Is the information you intend to user for your topic biased in any way?
- Is the information supported by reliable facts or statistics?
- If using the World Wide Web, take a look at the URL as certain aspects may inform you where the information has originated. Eg. "edu", indicates an educational institution, while "gov" indicates a government body.
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It is always good to be aware that most information sources have a certain degree of bias.
Ways of judging bias in information sources are:
- Does the information contain extreme viewpoints?
- Does the information contain emotive or derogatory language?
- Does the information focus on a particular geographic location?
- Contradictory viewpoints to other available information sources
- Geographic location - national as opposed to international information
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