1.   There are five basic criteria to consider. 1.Authority 2.Reliability 3.Currency 4.Scope 5.Relevance  information is taken from http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/evaluation/evaluation20.html Judging Sources

2.   Authority should be judged on both the author and the publisher of the material  Is the author's name available?  What are the author's training, education, and experience in the field?  Are there other works by this author in this field? Books, articles?  Does the author have a reputation in the field - good or bad?  If your information source is a web site, this might be harder to figure out. Is there an author or contact person listed, and is there a contact e-mail address available. It could be at the top of the page with the title, or at the bottom of the page. Authority

3.   Is the information correct, as far as you can tell? Look at several information sources and compare them.  Does the author cite his or her sources? Does it have a complete bibliography?  Were primary or secondary sources used?  Does it appear to be well edited? Do you see poor grammar, nonstandard language or misspelled words?  If your information source is a web site, what is the origin of the source? The domain, or last part of the web address, can tell you something about its origin. The most common are.edu - an educational institution,.gov - a government agency,.com - a commercial entity, and.org - a not-for-profit organization.  Does your source have a bias? Bias is not necessarily a bad thing; we all have our own opinions and biases. But you should be aware of them, and take that into consideration when looking at an information source. Reliability

4.   How old is this information? Is there newer information available?  Is your topic one which is changing quickly, such as medical research or technology, or one which is fairly stable and requires more background information such as history or literature?  If your information source is a web site, the date of publication and/or last updated date are usually found at the bottom of the page. Currency(current)

5.   Is the information the most complete available? Is it comprehensive? Who is it written for?  What level is the information? Is it advanced, technical, basic information?  Who is the intended audience for the material? Is it popular or scholarly? Scope

6.   While the other criteria are based on facts, things you can see or find out about your information source, this one is a total judgment call. You must know what information you need, what type of information source you need it to come from, and what you will be using that information for (a final term paper, a short composition, your personal knowledge or information, etc.). Relevancy