Researching tips - Evaluating print and web resources

How do I evaluate print materials?

It is important to evaluate any information resources that you use for academic writing.

Points to be aware of when evaluating book resources are:

• Title: Does the title indicate that the information is adequate for your purposes?


• Author(s): Whether the author is a reliable authoratative information source?


• Date: What is the date of publication? Is the material current or does it need to be older material?


• Publisher: Whether the print material is published by a recognised body.


• Name of Journal: Whether the journal is a refereed/scholarly or a popular journal.

How do I evaluate World Wide Web resources?

It is important to evaluate any information resources that you use for academic writing.

Points to be aware of when evaluating World Wide Web resources are:

• Accuracy of the document: who wrote the page and has the author included their email or contact details.


• Authority of the document: who published the document?, check the domain of the document, eg.edu, gov, org, net. Also check whether the author has listed their qualifications, as well as presenting a well researched document that is supported by evidence.


• Objectivity of the document: determine if the information is fact, opinion or propaganda. Be aware of bias in information.


• Currency of the document: check the dates of when the document was produced, updated, and whether the links in the document are up to date.


• Coverage of the information: does the information have a national or international focus. Are you limited by fees, browser technology or software requirements?

• Defining your information need



• Constructing a search strategy



• Evaluating information



• Evaluating print and web resources



• Finding peer reviewed journal articles