1. Author
- Who is the author of the information source?
- Do you know anything about his/her credentials?
- Especially in the case of an Internet source, the author's
name may not be present; what does this say about the
potential validity of the source?
- Has your instructor mentioned the author in class?
- Can you find other books or articles written by the
author? Use the library catalogue, periodical indexes and/or
Internet search engines to find out. A book will often
include a list of other books written by the same author.
2. Publisher/Institutional
Affiliation
- Who is the publisher of the source or, in the case of an
Internet document, on whose Web site is it published? A
book published by a university press or an Internet
document on a university's Web site is more likely to be
a reliable source of information.
- What else has the publisher published?
- Is the publisher/Web site likely to have a particular
bias? If so, you will want to take this into account,
perhaps by balancing the information with a source on the
same topic from another point of view. For example, take
the following two
3. Date of Publication or
Last Revision
- The date of publication may be an important factor in
evaluating an information source, especially in subject
areas - such as science and technology - where currency
is significant.
- Almost all printed information sources include a date of
publication, as well as dates of previous and/or revised
editions, if any. In the case of books, these dates are
normally located on the title page and/or the the date
normally appears on the cover, as well as on pages
throughout the periodical issue.
reverse (or "verso") of the title page. In the
case of periodical articles,
- Internet documents should, but do not always, include the
date on which the document was last revised. This date is
likely to be found either at the top of the document (the
"header") or at the bottom (the "footer").
4. Documentation/References
- Just as your research paper must include a list of
references, a scholarly book, article or Web page ought
to contain a list of sources consulted, a bibliography,
and/or footnotes. The presence of references does not
necessarily imply that the information contained in the
document is accurate; however, it does allow the reader
to check the author's sources to independently verify the
information.
5. Intended Audience
- What type of audience is the author addressing?
- Is the information aimed at specialists in the field or a
general audience?
- Is the information too elementary, too technical, too
advanced, or just right for your needs?
6. Purpose
- What seems to be the purpose of the author and, in the
case of a Web document, the purpose of the Web site on
which it appears?
- Is its sole purpose to sell a product or to promote a
cause?
- Does the document contain mainly the author's own
opinions about a subject or does it present facts
objectively?
7. Writing Style
- Is the document organized logically?
- Are the arguments clearly presented?
- Is the text easy to read or is it overly verbose or
stilted and choppy?
8. Relevance
- Perhaps most importantly, is the information relevant to
your topic? Although it is often a good idea to read as
broadly as possible around the area of your topic, you
probably don't have time during a single OUC course to
waste your time reading irrelevant sources. Sometimes, it
may not be apparent until you have read a substantial
portion of the document that a document is not relevant.
However, you can often judge a document's relative merits
simply by looking at its title, table of contents,
introduction, and index, if one is present.
Back to
Contents