Scribd
Upload
22 views11 pages

3-Evaluating Information Sources

The document provides guidance on evaluating information sources for relevance and reliability. It outlines steps for evaluating books, articles, and online sources for relevance such as skimming contents and bibliographies. It also lists factors for evaluating reliability, including audience, authority, bias, currency, and scope.

Uploaded by

rida84377
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
22 views11 pages

3-Evaluating Information Sources

The document provides guidance on evaluating information sources for relevance and reliability. It outlines steps for evaluating books, articles, and online sources for relevance such as skimming contents and bibliographies. It also lists factors for evaluating reliability, including audience, authority, bias, currency, and scope.

Uploaded by

rida84377
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

Evaluating Information Sources

1
Evaluating information sources
for relevance – Book
• Skim its index for your key words, then skim the
pages on which those words occur.
• Skim the first and last paragraphs in chapters that
use a lot of your key words.
• Skim introduction, summary chapters, and so on.
• Skim the last chapter, especially the first and last
two or three pages.
• If the source is a collection of articles, skim the
editor’s introduction.
• Check the bibliography for titles relevant to your
topic.
2
Evaluating information sources
for relevance – Article
• Read the abstract.
• Skim the introduction and conclusion, or if
they are not marked by headings, skim the first
six or seven paragraphs and the last four or
five.
• Skim for section headings, and read the first
and last paragraphs of those sections.
• Check the bibliography for titles relevant to
your topic.

3
Evaluating information sources
for relevance – Online
• If it looks like a printed article, follow the steps for a
journal article.
• Skim sections labeled “introduction,” “overview,”
“summary,” or the like. If there are none, look for a
link labeled “About the Site” or something similar.
• If the site has a link labeled “Site Map” or “Index,”
check it for your key words and skim the referenced
pages.
• If the site has a “search” resource, type in your key
words.
4
Use colour post-it to mark relevance

–Red - high relevance


–Blue – medium relevance
–Yellow – low relevance

5
Evaluating information sources
for reliability
• Audience
• Authority
• Bias
• Currency
• Scope

6
Audience

• What age group/education level/political


affiliation/etc. is the audience?
• Is this for a person with in-depth
knowledge or a layperson?

7
Authority
• Does the author’s name appear on the Web
page?
• What are his/her credentials?
• Does the author provide contact information?

8
Bias
• Is the source objective?
• Could the writer or the organization’s
affiliation put a different spin on the
information presented?
• What is the purpose of the source?

9
Currency
• When was the work published?
• When was the work last updated?
• How old are the sources or items in the
bibliography?
• How current is the topic?
• If a Web page, do the links work?

10
Scope
• What does/doesn’t the work cover?
• Is it an in-depth study (many pages) or
superficial (one page)?
• Are sources and statistics cited?
• If a site, does it offer unique info not
found in any other source?

11

You might also like