RESC 098 14 Ancient Origins, Secret History: Source Evaluation

Classic source evaluation method. It has been widely criticized, but can still be useful if its less of a checklist and more a tool for critical thinking about the following considerations.

This tool is particularly useful for non-scholarly sources like things you may find through a Google search, although it can also be applied to scholarly sources.

Currency: Is your source current, if currency matters for your topic.

Relevance: Is the information relevant to your needs?

Authority: Does the author or publisher have credentials or a good reputation on this topic?

Accuracy: Is the information correct and truthful?

Purpose: Why did the author create it? How does the authors purpose relate to your purpose for reading it?

SIFT is a newer evaluation method that also encourages reflection on a source. Again, it's particularly useful for internet resources.

Stop and think about the source and the information in it

Investigate the source - what is its reputation? You can use Wikipedia to investigate this.

Find other sources on the topic to see how accurate the information seems to be

Trace - look for the information in your source in its original context. For example, what is the context of a quote? Or if a website or newspaper article reference a medical study, find the original study.

For most scholarly resources, editors, publishers, and librarians have done a lot of the quality control for you. You will be able to focus particularly on how well a source will help you meet your information need.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• What in the title makes you predict this will help you meet your assignment requirements? What in the abstract? What in the first few paragraphs of the text?
• What credentials does the author have on the topic? (Ethos)
• What logical arguments does it make? (Logos)
• What emotional arguments does it make? (Pathos)
• What is the context of this text and how does that relate to your assignment?
• What is the format of the text and how does that relate to your assignment?