Criteria for Evaluating Information Sources

authority | bias | currency | accuracy | relevance

1. Authority

• If the information is published by an individual, does he or she have authority in the topic area? Consider factors such as these (you may think of others):
  • Where does the author work?  What is his/her job title?
  • Can you confirm employment through an employer's Website directory?
  • Has this author published other material on this topic?
  • Is there a list of other works provided by the author?
  • Are the author’s books or articles indexed in library catalogs or periodical indexes?
  • What do other people have to say about the author's work (reviews?)
  • What other information is there to indicate expertise?
• If the information is maintained by an organization, think about the nature of that entity and consider implications for reliability. The organization may be one of the following types:
  • A professional association
  • An activist organization
  • A college or university department
  • A government agency
  • A hobbyist group
  • A commercial publisher
  • Etc.
• The extension on the domain section of a Web address (uniform resource locator, or URL) can shed some light on the type. For instance, the URL for this Web page begins with www.linfield.edu. The extension .edu indicates this web page is at an education site (a college or university in the United States).
  • education sites (United States) = .edu
  • commercial sites = .com
  • government sites = .gov
  • organizational sites = .org

For more URL extension possibilities, see http://www.iana.org/domain-names.htm

2.Bias or Objectivity? 

• Is there nonprofit or corporate sponsorship?
• Are they trying to sell a product or service? 
• Are they promoting a political point of view? 
• Is there information about any sponsors so you can learn more about their purposes? 
• If there is advertising, does the information appear to be influenced by the advertisers?
• What bias, if any, do the authors of the information appear to bring? 

3. Currency.

• When was the piece was written, created, or last updated?
• For this topic, is it important whether the information is current?
• Is the page automatically updated daily or manually updated when the information is created or revised?

4.   Accuracy. 

• How can you determine the information's accuracy?
• Does the author specify the source(s) for information presented?
• Is there a bibliography?
• Should you cross-check the information elsewhere?

Relevance & Usability.

• Is the information presented relevant to your research? 
• Is the material useful to you at your level? Is it too elementary? Is it so full of professional jargon that you have a hard time making sense of it?
• Is the site well organized?

 Jean Caspers. Linfield College. Fall, 2006