Evaluating Information Guidelines

Use this guide to review any type of information source.
See also: Evaluating Information Checklist

Reliability | Purpose | Currency | Appropriateness

Reliability

• Reliable information is written by an author who has recognized experience with a subject and/or cites research from topic experts.
• Before publication, editors check facts, grammar, and spelling in books, government documents, articles, and some Web pages.
• Editing does not insure infallibility and objectivity, but provides readers a better likelihood that information is valid.
• Many Web pages may be written by anyone without any review before going online. Carefully review the claims of all World Wide Web pages by checking their information sources and their sponsor's reputation.

Check URLs (Web addresses) domains:

• Educational (.edu) and Governmental (.gov)
  These sites generally publish accurate information so people can become more informed about a topic. However, educational sites may include personal pages (see below).
• Personal Pages (all types of sites)
  CAUTION: Be wary of personal pages that include a "~" and/or a personal name in the URL since they frequently include personal information and undocumented opinion (e.g., http://www.emf.net/~estephen/facts/lefthand.html).
• Commercial news (selected .com)
  For example, sites such as the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) generally provide factual reporting in news reports with commentary added in editorials and columns.
• Service organizations (selected .org)
  These sites feature public awareness information (e.g., http://www.redcross.org/).
• Other types of sites (.ac, .uk, .tx, .biz, .name, etc.)
  International and state/local sources may have unique URL identifiers using a country abbreviation and sometimes other subdivisions within that country - government, commercial, and academic, etc. (e.g., http://www.ox.ac.uk/ and http://www.co.harris.tx.us/).
  
  NOTE: Review country codes (from ISO-International Organization for Standardization) to determine the source for international URLs. Some newer domains: .aero (for the air-transport industry), .biz (for businesses), .coop (for cooperatives), .info (for all uses), .jobs (employment firms), .museum (for museums), .name (for individuals), .pro (for professions), and .travel (tourism industry) have already started appearing in URLs.

Purpose

• Books, articles, Web sites, and other information sources may present information to make people more knowledgeable about an issue or to sway their opinion.
• Government documents frequently include reports that feature research data.
• You must judge the value of information presented by the stated or implied purpose of the author and/or sponsoring organization.
• Since writers are human, personal bias is displayed to some extent in many publications.
• Writers can select certain facts and omit contrary information to strengthen their "side" of a topic.
• Consider using differing viewpoints on an issue to provide balance in your research assignment.

Currency

• Information on a recent event may be crucial to your research project.
• Find a date on the information source that relates to the timeliness of the data presented.
• Beware that dates may refer to when some or all of the information was gathered, published, or revised.
• Depending on the topic, information from years ago may still be valid and helpful.

Appropriateness

• Important information to support your topic may vary from a detailed research study to a one-paragraph news story.
• Newspaper or magazine articles may provide valuable, brief topic updates or present in-depth investigative reports.
• Scholarly journal research reports may be difficult to understand in full because they are written by experts for other experts on the topic. However, research studies may include valuable statistics that can prove a point or provide unique insight into an issue.
• Web pages can provide unique and essential information not duplicated in other sources.
• Be prepared to discard material that once looked promising and/or interesting, but may not meet the ultimate focus of your research.
• Decide what type(s) of topic coverage you desire and what may be accessible before you begin your research. Revise your needs accordingly after you review what is available.
• Check with your instructor if you have questions about the types of sources needed to support your project.

NOTE: Information originally written by M. Norem for Lone Star College-North Harris Library.

Maintained by: M.Norem-Reference Librarian
monica.r.norem@lonestar.edu