Be Critical.
Analyze and evaluate your search results. Have you found the most authoritative, accurate, objective, up-to-date, scholarly information available on your research topic?
- Why critical thinking?
- How to Critically Analyze Information Sources lists some of the critical questions you should ask when you consider the appropriateness of a particular book, article, media resource, or Web site for your research.
- Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria shows how to evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.
- Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools lists ways to analyze the Web sites you find.
- See Evaluating Web Resources for additional information.
- Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites offers a table of suggestions.
Evaluation Checklist
Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask & Strategies for Getting the Answers:
An eight-point evaluation checklist from the UC Berkeley Library.
- What can the URL tell you?
- Who wrote the page? Is he, she, or the authoring institution a qualified authority?
- Is it dated? Current, timely?
- Is information cited authentic?
- Does the page have overall integrity and reliability as a source?
- What's the bias?
- Could the page or site be ironic, like a satire or a spoof?
- If you have questions or reservations, how can you satisfy them?