Evaluating Information Sources

St. Mary’s University Library

About

You should always evaluate the information that you find, regardless of its source. How good or how relevant is the information that you’ve found? To effectively evaluate your research sources of information and ideas, you need to ask specific questions about those sources.

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It is NOT enough that you can:

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• distinguish between Primary & Secondary Research Resources;
• distinguish between and effectively use reliable / unreliable information; or
• corroborate your facts and clarify your explanations of our research resources.

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You also need to be able to justify the information and you’ve found and explain its value as evidence to support your claim, thesis, or hypothesis. This module will walk you through the evaluation process by asking the following questions:

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The Primary Questions

Some resources on the web are produced by academic enterprises and made freely available to the public under an open access mandate. Others are credible but commercial sites.

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To discern quality information resources, it is a good idea to cross reference and double check the information that you find. Consider answering these questions about any information source that your are considering for your research:

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1. What is the nature of the information you’ve found?
2. Who is responsible for publishing the information?
3. When was it written / posted / published?
4. Why is the information important?
5. How can / will it help you deal with your research agenda?

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REMEMBER: Be sure of the facts that you use and the claims that you make when using information that you find, regardless of where you found it.

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1. What?

When evaluating the worth of a research source, begin with the basics:

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What is it that you’ve found?

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You can break this simple question into three smaller questions:

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1. What is the form / package through which the information is being presented?

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• Is it a WWW or gopher document, a text file, a newsgroup posting, or an email message?
• Is it in text, image, and/or sound form?
• Is the material scholarly or non-scholarly in nature?

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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a) Reference Materials

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Reference materials are used most often to find out information on a process or methodology, to define terms, or to get background information on a subject. They include a range of resources:

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These are useful tools for clarifying points of interest or brainstorming/concept mapping a research proposal. However, it is not appropriate to base your research for an entire essay on material from reference materials.

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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b) Scholarly Materials

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Scholarly materials are produced experts on a subject. Scholarly materials (academic journals and books) always have bibliographies and footnotes that . . .

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• help you backup your research; and
• potentially lead you to other useful information on a particular subject.

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Academic articles are published in journals that are peer reviewed. There are usually clues that will indicate that a journal is peer reviewed:

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• Such materials are written with a particular audience in mind, for example students, specialists, or researchers in a specific discipline;
• Often the title of the journal will provide a strong indication;

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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b) Scholarly Materials

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Look for the journal masthead, usually on the inside the cover or the flip side of the journal title page. It will include information such as:

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For Example:

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• The masthead for The Journal of Applied Social Psychology states that Manuscripts should be mailed in quadruplicate to Dr. Baum.
• This indicates implicitly but clearly that the Journal will submit a manuscript to at least four experts for review and evaluation.

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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b) Scholarly Materials

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REMEMBER: One bibliography always leads to another. You can follow a trail of citations in exactly the same way that you follow hyperlinks on the web. The only difference? You have to get off your seat and do the linking yourself. You have to make the connection!

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Ask yourself these questions:

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• If the material is from a journal or website, then does it have a moderator or editorial board to review submissions? The academic community reviews the accuracy of material through qualified and unbiased moderators.
• If the material is a book, video or audio recording, then what kind of reputation does the publisher with respect to the subject specifically and academia in general?

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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c) Non-Scholarly Materials

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Non-scholarly materials are likely to be useful to students exploring popular opinion or breaking news. However, they are generally not considered research and often contain opinions rather than proven facts or evidence that can be substantiated.

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These materials are likely to be produced by professional writers or reporters:

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• one or more experts may have been interviewed as part of the research method;
• they are usually produced for a general audience;
• they are generally not as useful for in-depth research on a particular topic.

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1. What?

2. What is the basic function or nature of that form?

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d) Internet Resources

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When evaluating Internet Resources, ask yourself: What is the web site trying to accomplish? Is it trying to:

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• sell you a product, such as software?
• sell you a service such as online counseling or a university degree?
• persuade you using a blog format? or
• entertain or titillate you with a streaming broadcast?

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REMEMBER: The intention of commercial sites is to make money, not encourage the academic endeavours or academic integrity!

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2. Who?

WHO is responsible for publishing the information?

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When doing research it is important to consider the intellectual ownership of an item (an article, book, website, etc.).

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1. Is the author identified?

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• WHO is responsible for creation and/or dissemination of the information?
• Who published the article or web page? A person? An organization? A government agency?
• If no one wants to admit to being the author, why not?

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2. What is the author’s background?

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• What are the author’s credentials? That is, what qualifies the author to speak/write authoritatively on a specific subject.
• Evidence such as an author’s academic training and previous publishing do not guarantee the integrity or accuracy of the material on a public Web page. But it does help tip the scale in that direction.

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2. Who?

WHO is responsible for publishing the information?

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3. Is the publication peer reviewed?

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In the academic community scholarly journals, articles & books are reviewed by qualified and unbiased moderators for accuracy and research integrity. This is often called the peer review process.

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• That is, does the provider/publisher of the information that you’ve found have a moderator or editorial board to review submissions?

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A book or article that has been reviewed by a panel of professional researchers or academics can be regarded as being more authoritative than materials which are not. This allows you to have more confidence in the integrity of the material.

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3. When?

WHEN was it written / posted / published?

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In the sciences and social sciences, the most current and up-to-date information is considered to be the best. For other subjects, such as history or literature, dates are important because they convey information about how the item you’ve found fits into the academic field of study.

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1. Is the information current?

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• Is the information dated? Be sure that the information you are using is the most up-to-date you can find. New research findings appear almost daily in every field.

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2. Is the information fully documented / referenced?

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• Randomly check two or three of the references for accuracy. This will help you evaluate the academic integrity of the author/publisher.
• Proper documentation (MLA, APA, or Chicago etc.) is a strong indication that the information is worth considering. If there are no citations, then the article is possibly editorial comment. While useful or insightful, it is not necessarily based on objective or verifiable evidence.

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4. Why?

WHY is the information important?

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Why is it there? To inform? To advertise? To persuade?

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1. What is the intention/purpose behind the information that you’ve found?

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• Is it a website trying to sell you a product or service such as online counseling or software?

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• If it is an article, book, or website, has more effort been made on visual presentation and advertising than on making sure that the content is reliable?

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2. Why is the information important to the subject area or discipline in which you are doing your research?

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• What does the information contribute to the field generally?

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• Can you find out if the item you’ve found has made a significant impact / contribution to the field?

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5. How?

HOW can / will it help you with your research agenda?

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Why is the information that you’ve found important to your specific research endeavour?

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1. Consider the importance of the information for your needs?

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• What is the general relevance of the information to your research needs?
• Consider your audience and compare the information that you’ve found with a variety of sources. Where does it fit in with the other research resources that you’ve found?

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2. How can / will it help you answer your research question / problem / hypothesis?

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• Will it help you answer a question?
• Will it provide you with evidence to support a claim?
• Will it solve a problem that you’ve posed?

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5. How?

HOW can / will it help you with your research agenda?

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Why is the information that you’ve found important to your specific research endeavour?

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3. Will the information be useful in demonstrating a negative proof of a claim?

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Using ‘Bad’ Information? Just because information is unreliable does not mean that it is un-useable. But be careful in how you present it. Be aware of the following:

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• The clear presentation of biased, opinionated or even false information in a research project can be an effective way to highlight dissenting opinions or identify commonly held errors.

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• The reliability of such information, however, should always be clearly identified and placed in context with more balanced sources.

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