1. Critical Evaluation of Information Sources
aura
Engaged Excellence in Research and Teaching Practices
Critical Evaluation of Information Sources
Research 1, Session 17, Day Three

2. Learning Outcomes By the end of this session, you will be able to:
Identify the appropriate structure of an academic article, and other resources
Apply evaluation criteria to the information sources

3. Brainstorm: The Evaluation Criteria
Brainstorm the evaluation criteria that can be used to assess the quality of an academic article:
e.g. is authoritative and rigorous in its research approach
(10 mins)

4. Evaluation Criteria Reputation Currency Informative title & abstract,
Credible authority or author
Location
Clear statement of purpose & significance
Context/literature review
Methodology
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
Bibliography

5. What Would be the Structure of a Good Academic Article?
10 minute discussion
Photo credit: sduvigneau

6. Structure of a Journal Article
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Source:

7. Activity: Identify the ‘Quality’ of your Information Source
Apply the following evaluation criteria to the article(s) you retrieved:
Currency – is the article within a reasonable timeframe?
Credible authority or author – is the author an established authority on the subject?
Clear statement of purpose & significance –the article clearly states the intention of the research and why the topic is important?
Methodology - is the methodology for conducting the research explicit?
Conclusion – does the conclusion indicate how research has contributed to the knowledge landscape or domain
(30 mins)

8. The content is authored by:
Professor Mark Hepworth,
Professor in People’s Information Behaviour, Centre for Information Management, Loughborough University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.