1. Evaluating Sources How to Decide Who to Trust And What to Use
Created by Lauren Wolter,
Adapted from Joyce Valenza’s Power Tools Recharged
And Joe Barker & John Kupersmith’s Beyond Google

2. The Problems: Anyone can put up a Web page about anything
Many pages not kept up-to-date
No quality control
most sites not “peer-reviewed”
less trustworthy than scholarly publications
no selection guidelines for search engines

3. The Questions: What are the qualities of a good source?
How do we weed through the many sources to find the good ones?

4. CARRDS Acronym Credibility Accuracy Reliability Relevance Date
Sources Behind the Source

5. Credibility Who is the author? What are his or her credentials?
Who is the person/organization putting this info out there?
Are they qualified to do so?
Who is the author?
What are his or her credentials?
Education
Experience
Affiliation with any universities, museums, scientific, or professional communities?
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6. Credibility: How to Find Out
How do you know who I am?
Look for:
Books: Check back cover, back flap.
Websites: Look for tab or link: Author Information, About Us/Me, Philosophy, Background, Biography
URL: Learn about affiliations by going to the main page (truncate URL after .com/.org/.edu/.net)
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7. Accuracy
Which is it?
Can facts, statistics, or other info be verified through other sources?
Based upon your knowledge, does the info seem accurate? (Or does it contradict other info you’ve found?)
Does author cite his/her sources?
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8. You’ve got it on ___ news.
Reliability
Does the source present a particular view or bias?
Issues/historical events: does the source acknowledge more than one “side” to the issue or event?
Does the info seem “slanted” toward a particular side or agenda?
Are sources biased organizations?
You’ve got it on ___ news.
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9. Will this piece of info ADD to the bigger picture of your research?
Relevance
Does this info directly support my hypothesis/thesis?
Does this info help to answer my research questions?
Does this info add to my research or simply repeat the same info I found elsewhere?
Will this piece of info ADD to the bigger picture of your research?
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10. Date Is this info outdated? When was this info created?
When/how was it revised?
Are these dates meaningful in terms of the particular subject matter?
Look at bottom of page for “Last Updated” or copyright date.
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11. Sources Behind the Source
Look at the sources this author cites.
If no sources are cited, that may be a warning sign.
Did the author use reliable, credible sources?
Do the links work?
HINT: If so, you may want to find some of this author’s sources.
Did the author use
credible sources?
Could you use them too?
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12. Beyond Google: Databases
Start general, then get specific as you refine your knowledge and narrow your focus.
General: Brittanica, possibly NetTrekker
Issues: Issues & Controversies, ProQuest
History: History Study Center, ABC-Clio
Countries: CultureGrams
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13. Beyond Google: Directories
Organized into subject categories
Librarians’ Internet Index (lii.org)
Infomine
About.com – a collection of specialized directories
Yahoo’s directory
4 million UNevaluated pages - about 0.06% of Yahoo! search

14. Other Tools Alexa: See who links to the site and who owns the domain.
Google: Similar sites through Preview

15. Let’s Do Some Practice…
Open up Internet Explorer.
Home page is library website.
In right sidebar, under “Quick Links”, select “Research Pathfinders”
Open file and click on link for Octopus site.