LibGuides: Information Literacy, Level One: Evaluating information

Evaluating information

As you move forward with your research, you'll need to evaluate the sources you find, to determine if they are reliable, valid and useful for your paper. This is true for every source you find, but especially crucial for sources that you find on the open web.

To do this, you will need to first consider the source's relevance. The next step is evaluating the source's quality. One way to evaluate quality is through the ABC test -- Authority, Bias, and Currency.

Relevance

Does your source relate to your topic and provide helpful insights? To determine this, you can look at...

Title
Abstract/summary
Table of contents
Introduction section

You do not need to read the entire source to decide if it's relevant!

ABC test -- authority, bias, & currency

Flip through the carousel below using the black arrow buttons to learn more about library and web sources.

To effectively support your writing, the information you find will need to be authoritative. To evaluate the sources you find for authority, ask yourself these questions:

Who produced this source?
What are their qualifications or credentials?
Are they an expert on the topic, or a writer for a well-respected publication?

If you can't readily identify the author or organization behind your source, or you can't determine that they have qualifications or expertise related to the topic, you may want to look for a more authoritative source.

Some of the information you encounter in your research may be biased-- it's important to be aware of possible biases when deciding whether and how to use that information in your paper. To evaluate your sources for potential bias, ask yourself these questions:

Why was this source produced? Is it meant to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to inspire an emotion, to sell a product?
Who produced this source? Is there information on the author or organization that produced it indicating that it could be biased?
How is the source written? Is its language moderate and measured, or does it seem emotional or exaggerated?

Sources with bias can still be useful for your research; for example, they can help you lay out arguments which you'll either support or challenge with evidence. But it's important to distinguish fact from opinion, and be aware of the biases your sources may have.

For many topics, it will be important to have up-to-date information. To evaluate your sources for currency, ask yourself these questions:

When was the source created?
Is it about a topic which changes rapidly?
Could more recent information on this topic be available?

Some topics may be less dependent on current information than others; and older information can sometimes be used to provide a historical perspective. But for topics having to do with quickly-changing areas like politics, technology and media, keep a close eye on your sources' currency.