Print Version 5

Module 5: Evaluating

Copyright © 2009-
Ryan Memorial Library
Information Literacy Porta

5.0 Objectives

Objectives:

Develop basic set of criteria for evaluating information sources.
Know how to evaluate an author and publisher of a source.
Know how to judge a source's usefulness, based on currency, content and relevance.
Know how and why to pay closer attention to Websites and their evaluation.

5.1 Credibility

Author's Credibility

Do you believe everything you read? Knowing more about an author can help you judge her or his credibility.

Author's Credibility Self-Quiz

Instructions: If you were writing about the relationship between human activity and the temperature of the earth, whose work would you choose to include in your paper? Look for clues that suggest their level of expertise and/or bias.


a.	An atmospheric physicist at Winston University and founder of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, a think tank on climate and environmental issues.
b.	A Washington Post staff writer who has written articles such as "Arctic Ice Shelf Crumbles Into Sea," "In Infrastructure Debate, Politics Is Key Player," and "President's Reform Efforts Get Results."
c.	Current president of Greater Chipiwick Environmental Club, and publisher of a Web site that discusses the major causes of global warming in the last 100 years.

Response:

In terms of evaluating an author, credentials include degrees received, titles held, professional affiliations, years of activity in a field, publication history, fields of inquiry, and the characteristics of publications in which their work has appeared.

Publisher's Credibility

Similar to judging an author's credentials, knowing more about a publishing company can help you understand their potential biases. Keep in mind that publishing standards vary for each publishing house. XYZ Publishing may print anything that will bring a profit, whereas H. University Press may screen all information they publish to ensure the validity of the content, protecting their reputation.

categories of publishers:

Commercial publishing houses like Macmillan, Time/Warner, or Knopf.
University Presses, like the University of Washington Press or Michigan State University Press.
Associations, societies, businesses, industries, and services that publish their own periodicals, newsletters, staff training documents, operating schedules, brochures, etc.
Governments and intergovernmental bodies, such as the United Nations.
Web publishers, which includes anyone with access to a computer network and a host computer to store and deliver their publications, including the "traditional" publishing houses.

Learn about authors & publishers

Author

1. What are the author's credentials?

institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise? Use the various Who's Who publications or use online sources to help determine the author's affiliation and credentials.

2. What other works had the author written?

Search catalogs or databases. Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. For this reason, always note those names that appear in many different sources.

3. Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization?

What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution?

Google is good for finding author information. Try searching by the author's full name.

Publisher

Note the publisher

If the source is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.

5.2 Usefulness

Usefulness Self-Quiz

Instructions: Before reviewing the questions below, select one of the following sources as most useful for a research paper on the current use of primates in scientific laboratories?

a.	"Monkeys in our Labs," by Scott Gottieber, a USA Today staff writer. Published in USA Today Dec 15, 1989. Includes chart, "Number of Test Primates in the US, 1975-1985."
b.	Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group website. LPAG is a nonprofit organization. Website last updated in 2001. "LPAG believes that the laboratory is no place for monkeys and nonhuman great apes."
c.	"Better numbers on primate research," by Constance Holden. Published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Appeared in Science, a scholarly publication, on March 30, 2001.

Response:

When deciding whether or not an information source is useful in the context of your research, you should consider the following issues regarding content. Click on the linked term to the right of each issue for a set of activities that will clarify your understanding of each:


Issue		Term

Are the goals for this publication clearly stated? Is there a particular bias evident? Is the viewpoint of the author's affiliation reflected in the message or content? Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched?		Click below for a detailed chart: Objectivity

Does this appear to be quality work? Is the information well-organized? Has the author used good grammar? Are the graphics - images, tables, charts, diagrams - appropriate and clearly presented?		Click below for a detailed chart: Quality

How does it cover your topic? Is it comprehensive? an overview? highly detailed and narrowly-focused? Does the work update other sources?		Click below for a detailed chart: Coverage/Currency

Does the work address your research question or meet the requirements of your assignment? Is the content appropriate for your research topic or assignment?		Click below for a detailed chart: Relevance

Evaluation Review

Locate critical reviews in various sources. See:

Tips for Finding Book Reviews

Is the review positive, negative or mixed? Even if it is negative, it might include useful information such as other books that the reviewer considers better. If so, locate these sources for more information on your topic. Negative or mixed reviews can still provide valuable background on the topic, especially if it has aroused controversy among the critics.

5.3 Evaluating Websites

All information sources need to be evaluated, but Websites offer additional challenges and need more scrutiny.

The Web is an excellent source of information for:

News CNN.com News
Grey literature
pamphlets, technical reports, handouts, and associations’ literature , i.e. American Fisheries Society
Self-publishing
lacking peer review process and not disseminated by the trade publishing industry
Data StatLib Idaho Game Fisheries
Advertising
product information, i.e. Amazon.com
Multimedia
images with sounds and animation, i.e. FishIndex MSN Encarta Multimedia Fish

In selecting free Web based information sources pay attention to the following criteria:

Authority

Examine: Credentials of the producer or sponsor delivering the information

Look for "about us," "home," "biography", and "credits" on the home page
Check other publications by the author or sponsor by going to Library of Congress Online Catalog Amazon.com
Examine and decode a URL address Wiki defintion: Generic top-level domain
Check who owns a domain Go to Whois.net
Search Google or Amazon for other publications or sites done by the author.

Currency

Consider: Information currency at the time of publication

Check the frequency of updates
Look for dates, updates, revision dates
Avoid undated information sources

Purpose

Consider or determine: Why was the site created?

To inform
To entertain
To advertise/sell a product
To promote a point of view or belief
To spoof or as a sham or hoax

Extra Materials

To see the University of Idaho Libraries criteria for website evaluation, click below:

Website Evaluation Criteria

5.4 Evaluation Summary Exercise

The University of Wyoming Library’s Tutorial for Information Power (TIP) does a great job of summing up all the evaluation points to consider when choosing information sources. TIP uses a memorable acronym, CRAAP (CRAAP acronym used courtesy of Merriam Library, California State University, Chico) to help us remember the criteria: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose.

Click on the link below to visit TIP:

http://tip.uwyo.edu/evaluating/evaluating12.html