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Evaluating a Source:
Some Questions to Ask
Evaluating a Book | a
Periodical Article | an Index or Abstract |
an Internet Site | a
Person
A Book:
- Are the author's qualifications given? What are they?
- Does it reflect current understanding of the topic?
- Does it have a subject index?
- Does it have a bibliography, footnotes, and/or endnotes?
- Was it favorably reviewed?
- Has it been cited in other works?
A Periodical Article:
- Is it current?
- Is it in a reputable source?
Popular,
or
Scholarly?
- Are the author's qualifications given? What are they?
- Does it have a bibliography, footnotes, and/or endnotes?
- Was it favorably reviewed?
- Has it been cited in other works?
An Index or Abstract:
- Is its coverage general or specific? Are the sources it cites
specific to your subject area?
- Are the subject headings broad or narrow (specific)?
- Does it have cross-references?
- Does it include abstracts (summaries, descriptions)?
An Internet Site
- Is its source (author and institution, if there is one) clearly
identified?
- Is it a reputable source? (E.g. from an educational
institution? a professional organization? etc.)
- Are the author's qualifications given? What are they?
- Does it contain errors of fact, grammar, or punctuation? Does
its design complement its text?
- Does it have a bibliography, footnotes, and/or endnotes?
- Does it indicate when it was created? Has it been updated or
revised recently?
- Has it been cited elsewhere? Was it linked from a reputable
site? Did the site annotate it?
See also Evaluation
Criteria from The Good, The Bad &
The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
and Esther Grassian's
Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources (from
UCLA).
A Person
- Are they a "primary source" for information on your topic? Or
will they help you locate other relevant sources?
- What are their qualifications?
- Are they understanding/easy to talk to?
- Is the information they provide accurate? Helpful?
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