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How To- Evaluate Information

Page history last edited by Cori Biddle 1 yr ago

You’ve started your research, but now you need a way to sift through the piles of information you found. Whether it is an electronic or print resource the following tips should help you evaluate the information and choose the most reliable resources that best fit your needs.

Keys for Evaluating Information Quality

Currency - Is the information current in relation to your topic?

Point-of-View - In what way is the information presented?
- Bias - Can you detect bias in the presentation of information
- Propaganda - "The systematic propagation of information or ideas by an interested party, esp. in a tendentious way in order to encourage or instill a particular attitude or response. Also, the ideas, doctrines, etc., disseminated thus; the vehicle of such propagation." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)
- Misinformation - 1.The action of misinforming or condition of being misinformed. 2. Erroneous or incorrect information." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)
- Disinformation - noun "The dissemination of deliberately false information, esp. when supplied by a government or its agent to a foreign power or to the media, with the intention of influencing the policies or opinions of those who receive it; false information so supplied." (from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989)

Authorship/Accountability - Who wrote this? What are the writer’s credentials to write on this topic? Is there biographical information available on the writer? Can the writer’s credentials be corroborated by a different credible source of information? Does the writer have a website that is located on a trustworthy site?

Source - In what source is the information contained? What is the relationship of the source to the topic that is presented? Is the source appropriately related to the information presented? What are the submission policies for the source? Who can submit information to be published in this source? Who or what body controls this?

Audience - Who is the audience that is being addressed, e.g., scholars, students, general readers, etc.?

Cost of Information - What does the information cost to gain access? How is the source funded? What is the relationship of the source’s funding and the topic presented?

Accuracy/Verifiability - Is the information accurate? Can the information be verified or corroborated elsewhere in another reliable source? Does the author include methodology for developing the research presented? Is there documentation for information included in the publication?

Scholarly Publications: A Guide to the Differences Between Publications

	Scholarly Journal	General Interest News	Popular Magazines	Sensational Publications
Format	Serious format	Attractive in appearance	Often slick/glossy with an attractive format	Cheap newspaper format
Graphics	Graphs and charts to illustrate concepts	Photos, graphics and illustrations used to enhance articles	Photos, illustrations and drawing to enhance image of publication	Contains melodramatic, lurid or "doctored" photos
Sources	Cited sources with footnotes and/or bibliography	Occasionally cite sources, but not as a rule	Rarely cite sources. Original sources may be obscure	Rarely cites sources of information
Authors	Scholars or researchers in the field or discipline	Free-lance or scholarly writers writing for an educated, general audience	Staff or free-lance writers for a broad audience	Free-lance or staff writers
Language	Uses vocabulary of the discipline. Reader is assumed to have similar background	Uses language appropriate for an educated readership	Uses simple language for minimal educational level. Articles are short, with little depth	Contains language that is simple, easy-to-read and understand. Sensational style is often used
Purpose	To inform, report, or make original research available to the scholarly world	Provide general information to a wide, interested audience	Designed to entertain or persuade, to sell products or services	Arouse curiosity and interest by distorting the truth. Often uses outrageous or startling headlines
Publishers	Generally published by a professional organization	Published by commercial enterprises for profit	Published for profit	Published for profit
Advertising	Contains selective advertising, often related to the discipline	Carries advertising	Contains extensive advertising	Contains advertising as luring and startling as the stories
Examples	Journal of Politics	Newsweek, Fortune, Psychology Today	People, Sports Illustrated	National Enquirer, Star, Sun

Searching Tips

Boolean Operators

And - combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, psychology and technology finds articles that contain both terms.

Or - combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms. For example, psychology or technology finds results that contain either term.

Not - excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, psychology not technology finds results that contain the term psychology but not the term technology.

Adapted from EBSCO: http://support.ebsco.com/help/index.php?help_id=67

Truncation

The symbol * is often used in searching for truncation. Truncation shortens a search term(s) in order to locate additional variations of the term. For example, changing a search from “technology” to “techn*” extends the search to look for all words that have “techn” as its root, such as technical, technological, technique, etc.

Search Parameters

Database Searching

Search engines often provide the option to limit the search to specific fields in the record. This may include Title, Subject, Author, Journal Title, Date, or other fields. You may also limit by range of dates or sometime by full-text, type or article, etc.