When you do research, you want to find the best information to support your ideas. Evaluate Your Sources No matter what type of source you would like to use, what format it is in (print, web, or multimedia), or where you find it, you need to evaluate it to determine if it is: Credible: Do you, and should you, trust the information provided in this source? When doing research, you will use a variety of sources such as books, newspaper articles, magazines or journals, and websites. 1. Critical Questions Here are some questions to guide you through the process of critical evaluation of information sources: Strategies for Critically Evaluating Web Content Web Content Requires Additional Methods of Evaluation. Evaluating sources of information is an important step in any research activity. ACCURACY: The reliability (source, evidence, truthfulness) of the information. EVALUATING INFORMATION SOURCES Use the following criteria to distinguish the quality information from the CRAAP. heck a news outlet's website, usually under, Reading a profile or bio for a reporter or looking at, other articles by the author may tell you whether whether that person favors a particular viewpoint, https://guides.lib.k-state.edu/writingresearchpaper, Web’s “Content Farms” Grow Audiences For Ads. Can you see when the content you need was added? How to Evaluate Sources Detailed and easy to understand note explaining every process and step you are required to know in evaluating sources. Preview 2 out of 10 pages The line between what is considered scholarly and non-scholarly continues to blur as it becomes easier to create and share information. See  Retraction Watch and Retraction Databases, Authored by librarians at North Carolina State University. One of the most basic concepts in doing good research is evaluating the information you plan to use. How to Evaluate Information Sources: CRAAP Test. research guide will give you more tools to evaluate your sources. The following guidelines can help you decide if a website is a good choice for a source for your paper. Consider whether the source is relevant to your research and whether it covers the topic adequately for your needs. Evaluating information sources, whether they are from a book, scholarly database or the web, is an important step in your research. For example, USAToday has the USA Today Reporter Index, and the LA Times has an Editorial & Newsroom Contacts. 2. How to Evaluate Sources 1. Evaluating information encourages you to think critically about the reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, point of view or bias of information sources. The definition is pretty good. If a particular organization is mentioned in an article, learn more about the organization to identify potential biases. Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell University Library) Use the C.R.A.P. The quality of information available on the internet can vary significantly. Critically Analyzing Information Sources.This website provides criteria you should use to evaluate any information source. Useful information can be found on all kinds of sites, but you must. Once you have found information that matches the topic and requirements of your research, you should analyze or evaluate these information sources. Reliability: Does the information comes from a reliable, trusted source such as an academic journal? Anyone can publish online so you need to choose your information carefully. 1117 Mid-Campus Drive North The more you know about the credentials and mission of a site's creators, as well as their sources of information, the better idea you will have about the site's quality. (Cornell*). Anyone can publish online so you need to choose your information carefully. Just because a book, article, or website matches your search criteria and thus seems, at face value, to be relevant to your research, does not mean that it is necessarily a reliable source of information. (Cornell*) Learn the difference--Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals.Be wise to retracted scholarly papers. When evaluating information found on the Internet, it is important to examine who is providing the "information" you are viewing, and what might be their point of view or bias. As you examine each source, it is important to evaluate each source to determine the quality of the information provided within it. EVALUATING INFORMATION SOURCES Use the following criteria to distinguish the quality information from the CRAAP Currency = timeliness. Read the Wikipedia article about Content Farms. Check a news outlet's website, usually under About Us or Contact Us, for information about their reporters and authors. R eliability: Where did the information come from? You need to be more careful with these sources. Applie d to the evaluation of information sources, this means that ev idence-bas ed evalua tion exa mines the evidence on which the conclusion s of a given source are based. EMAIL › Does the site show signs of not being maintained (broken links, out-of-date information, etc.)? What Information Does the Source Include? libhelp@k-state.edu. Where did the author get the information? To ensure you include only valid information in your research, evaluate your sources using the criteria below. 4. All linked content maintains its respective license. If a news article or source seems old, you should probably be sceptical. If someone or something is taking credit for the information you’re considering, be certain to discover that individual or entity’s: 1. CALL › 785-532-3014 Does the author have an agenda? Listed below are some simple measures to help you evaluate information. Not all information sources will be authoritative, reliable, or well researched, but this does not mean they are not valuable for your field of study. For this brief introduction to evaluating sources in LS101, we will use a list of five critical criteria. Evaluating Sources for Everyday Life 1. Information Literacy 7. The degree to which the producers of information are qualified to present that information. Thinks tanks and other associations usually exist for a reason. C. Documentation In this context the word critical is not negative. The ability to evaluate a source is central to being a great history student. Searching the web, e.g. As you stated in this hub, before reading an article try to get a gauge on the past agenda of the news source. content was published on the site. Use the criteria below to help you evaluate the information you find to determine if it is appropriate for your research. Searching the library? consider carefully whether the source is useful for your purpose and for your audience. Objectivity 2. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. Check for contact information and the credentials of the author. Evaluating Information Sources This guide will help you to evaluate resources you use for research, whether it is an online or print journal article, a website, a book, a newspaper article, or other source that you want to cite. PolitiFact is created by reporters and editors at the Tampa Bay Times. When you do research, you want to find the best information to support your ideas. The index will provide you with the keywords so you can skim through it alphabetically and see whether there is a relevant topic there or not. an you detect any bias? Unless your project is a study of content farms, these are poor choices to support your work. Can you tell when the site was last updated? There are a number of different criteria and models that you can use to evaluate information sources. So, be sure to figure out where the support is coming from and why. Google? News outlets, think tanks, organizations, and individual authors can present information from a particular political perspective. You can use the following checklist, adapted from “Evaluating Internet Resources” (UMUC, 1998), to evaluate any of your sources… Examine each information source you locate and assess sources using the following criteria: Timeliness Your resources need to be recent enough for your topic. Why Is It Important To Evaluate Sources? Evaluating information sources Learning how to critically evaluate information is an important research skill. This section provides information on evaluating bibliographic citations, aspects of evaluation, reading evaluation, print vs. online sources, and evaluating Internet sources. Critical thinking is a process used to think about and evaluate information and reach a conclusion. Citation Styles & Tools Quick MLA, APA, and Chicago style guides for bibliographies; tools for storing and organizing sources. Authority. View this list of content farms! Knowing the perspective of a source helps contextualize the information presented. Look for an About Us link or something similar to learn about the site's creator. Understanding this cycle will help you know what information is available on your topic and to better evaluate information sources covering that topic at that time. This article by Zoe Chace at National Public Radio describes the ways How To sites try to drive more traffic to their sites to see the ads they host. Summary: Evaluating sources of information is an important step in any research activity. test to evaluate information. Critically Analyzing Information Sources. The Big 5 Criteria can help you evaluate your sources for credibility: Another way to evaluate your sources is the CRAAP Test, which means evaluating the following qualities of your sources: This video (2:17) from Western Libraries explains the CRAAP Test. Useful sites. Generally, the more time and money that is invested into the creation and... 2. Can you locate these sources so that you can read and interpret the information yourself? Does the site use emotional language? This tutorial will focus on the CRAAP test, one such model that you can apply. This is crucial for a few reasons. It takes time and money to support a high quality website. Why Is It Important To Evaluate Sources? Then skim through the index on the end of the book or find the topics by yourself in the book wherever they are present. How to Evaluate Information Sources: CRAAP Test. What does the author know about the subject? In your search for information, you eventually face the challenge of evaluating the resources you have located and selecting those you judge to be most appropriate for your needs. They post about popular web searches to try to drive traffic to their sites. Once you have successfully analysed your sources, you have enough information to start evaluating their value. In evaluating any information source, it is necessary to separate fact from opinion. The following criteria are useful in examining information from a book, a magazine, on a website, or social media. Remember that different criteria will be more or less important depending on the topic or purpose of your research. Library and Media Center. The Big 5 Criteria can help you evaluate your sources for credibility: Currency: Check the publication date and determine whether it is sufficiently current for your topic. PURPOSE: The reason (teach, sell, entertain) the information exists. Inaccurate, questionable, or out-of-date sources can undermine your ideas and cause the reader to question your authority on your topic. Evaluate sources for relevance and reliability Evaluate the relevance of sources. How to evaluate information, from social media to scholarly articles. Use this guide to help you write your paper. Because there is frequently no quality control over web information, you must critically evaluate all the material you find there, text and graphics alike. research guide will give you more tools to evaluate your sources. Use these techniques for information you find on websites and in … First select books that you think might contain sources that you want for your research paper 2. Using the library databases? These questions should be used as general guidelines in the process of analyzing a book, article or other work. This is something you likely do already in some form or another, though maybe you don’t think about. 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