Evaluating Information

After you have found some information on a topic, you may wish to evaluate just how good the information is. First and foremost, the information must be relevant to your topic. Does the information help answer the questions you need to answer? Does the information cover your topic with sufficient depth? Besides relevance, there are other general criteria for evaluating information:

Authority and accuracy

Does the information come from a reputable source? When evaluating a book, check the credentials of the author(s). Likewise, is the publisher reputable? When evaluating periodical literature (articles), check the credentials of the author(s). Also, what type of newspaper, magazine, or periodical does the article come from and is it reputable?

When evaluating information on the Internet, is there an individual or organization responsible for the information? If so, are they reputable? Information with no apparent source of responsibility should be evaluated with skepticism.

Objectivity and purpose

Is the information objective or biased? Does the information provide a balanced study of an event or topic, or does it advocate a particular cause or position? Does the information provide facts, opinion, or both? Objective information is not necessarily superior to opinion, but it is important to be aware of what best suits your information needs.

You may evaluate the objectivity of information by determining its purpose. This is especially true when evaluating information on the Internet. Is the information designed to sell a product? Inform the public? Influence public opinion? Is the information from a scholarly or educational source? Follow this link for more information on evaluating Web pages.

Currency

How current is the information? For some topics, this is very important. Business, Technology, Science, Medicine, Politics, and some Social Sciences are rapidly changing fields. On the other hand, for topics such as History or Literature, older sources may be just as good or better than current sources.

Also see:
- Critically Evaluating Information (Utah Acad. Lib. Consortium)
- Evaluation Criteria Handout (Utah Acad. Lib. Consortium)
- Evaluating Sources (California St. Univ. system)
- Web Site Evaluator (Utah Acad. Lib. Consortium)
- Evaluating Internet Sites 101 (SUNY Albany)