Information Literacy Program Critically Evaluating Emalus Campus Information Literacy Program Module 4 Critically Evaluating Information Sources

Other ILP Modules Emalus Campus Module 1: Resources available @ the Emalus Campus Library Module 2: Accessing the Library Website & Using the Online Catalogue Module 3: Untangle the Web: Finding Information on the Internet Module 4: Critically Evaluating Information Sources Module 5: Literature Search, Citing Sources & the Bibliography Module 6: Searching ProQuest

Learning Objective Emalus Campus to provide students with a set of criteria for evaluating information sources

Learning Outcomes Emalus Campus At the end of this session, students should be able to: understand the four criteria for evaluating information sources apply these four criteria when evaluating information sources

Why Evaluate Information Emalus Campus every source of information incorporates the perspective or bias of its authors instead of automatically accepting information at face value, you should always critically evaluate information obtained from any source

Criteria to Evaluate Information Emalus Campus CARS is an acronym to help you remember the five categories for evaluating information sources: Credibility Accuracy Reasonableness Support Jowitt, Anita (2006) Legal Referencing. University of the South Pacific School of Law. http://law.usp.ac.fj/edison/resources/referencing.pdf

Credibility are the author’s qualifications presented? Emalus Campus are the author’s qualifications presented? does the author have expertise related to the topic? is the author affiliated with an educational institution or other reputable organisation Is the information checked by anyone else (e.g. peer-reviewed journals)

Accuracy What purpose has it been written for? Emalus Campus What purpose has it been written for? Is the information sufficiently current for your purpose? Does it cover the right time period? Does it cover the right geographic area? Does the information appear to be complete Is the information still accurate regardless of the date?

Reasonableness Emalus Campus Does the sources balance different perspectives on the issue (Is it free from overt bias?) Is the information presented fact or opinion? Does the source use emotive reasoning to for its argument Does the content make exaggerated claims which it does not support

Support Is supporting evidence provided? Emalus Campus Is supporting evidence provided? Is the information supported by footnotes or references? Can its accuracy be verified by independent sources?

Evaluating Websites Look at the URL Emalus Campus Look at the URL Scan the top and bottom of the page to find author, organization, date last updated Look for indicators of quality Sources documented Bias Links to additional resources What do others say?

Evaluating Websites Emalus Campus

Information Online is vulnerable to: Emalus Campus unauthorised changes updates: this problem especially applies to conference / working papers online – what you see today may not be what you access tomorrow

Final Advice on Evaluating Information Emalus Campus read a wide range of sources do not automatically accept information check author’s credentials and qualifications check for bias check for date of publication (currency)