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Table
of Contents
The responsibility
for evaluating the print resources you use falls on your shoulders.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself, so you end up spending
your precious time on using quality materials.
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"I
read it in a book [a newspaper, a magazine] so it must
be true!"
Information originates
from some person, group, government agency or other entity. Prior
to being printed, publications are reviewed by editors who apply
a variety of writing and accuracy standards. The standards vary
-- those applied by editors at the New York Times differ
from those applied by editors of a supermarket tabloid, for example.
Books on the same topic
by different authors, and published by different publishers, can
vary a great deal not only in point of view, of course, but also
as to their overall quality.
Print resources
don't come labelled as to their quality. You're the one who has
to sort all this out.
It is up to you to
determine if the information you've found is both useful and of
high quality. Your own perceptions about information, and your
own reactions to the style in which the information is presented,
can help you select good resources.
As you judge the quality
of specific printed resources, keep the following questions in
mind:
Coverage
- What does this work
offer that is not found elsewhere?
- What is its value
to your research?
- Is the coverage
in-depth or superficial?
- Is
the material well-written, or haphazard and difficult to understand?
Objectivity
- Does
the information presented show bias?
- Is
the source designed to sway opinion?
Authorship
- Who
is responsible for the content? Is the author qualified? an
expert?
- What
is the author's organizational affiliation? Is the organization
impartial, like a university, or is it established to promote
an idea or point of view, like the National Rifle Association?
- Is
the author making an argument for personal gain? Is the material
written objectively (presenting both sides fairly ), or from
a subjective bias (expressing one point of view)?
- Did
the author gather information from original research, direct
personal observations, or from books and articles written by
others? (The question of primary vs. secondary sources.)
Currency
- Is
the information current? Do you need current information for
your topic?
Accuracy
- Is
the information reliable and error-free?
- Is
there someone you can contact to learn more about the information
presented?
- Are
the sources for the information clearly identified and verifiable?
Want
to read more about evaluation? Critically
Analyzing Information Sources, a Web site from Cornell University
Libraries, provides some good information.
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