IL Tutorial: How to evaluate Information

Finding sources that are appropriate for your research paper requires a critical eye and an investment of your time. Evaluating information for a research paper can be a complicated process. Learning to evaluate both print and electronic information will make it easier for you to choose good sources. It is important for you to determine if your source are factual and verifiable since there is plenty of information that is false or biased.

Print information (books and articles from periodicals) is easy to evaluate because it has already been reviewed by editors and by librarians. Web resources are not always reviewed, so they must be looked at more closely. Remember, anyone can publish anything on the Internet! Do not assume that since it is written, it must be true.

An information source -- whether it is a book, a journal article, a web page or something else--gives you many clues.

• Think about what kind of information you need. Do you need facts, opinions, arguments, descriptions, or statistics? Do you need scholarly information or will more popular sources suit you?
• Look carefully at who wrote the infomation. What knid of content does the information contain? When was it created? Where or for whom was it published? Why was it produced?

These clues will help you determine whether information that you find matches what you need, and if it is Credible, Accurate and Appropriate, Reasonable, and Supported (C.A.R.S.).

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