Library Skills Tutorial

Evaluating Information

There are several things to consider when you are evaluating information sources. Some of these are:

• Author
  • Who is the author?
  • What else has he or she written?
  • Is the author affiliated with any institution or organization?
  • What is the author's reputation? Is he or she an accepted authority in the field?
• Sources
  • Is there a bibliography or list of sources that the author consulted at the end of the book or article?
  • Are the sources reputable and up-to-date?
• Audience
  • Is the material written for scholars who are experts in the field, for educated people who are not experts, or for the average reader from the general public?
• Date of publication
  • Is the information up-to-date?
• Publisher
  • Is the material published by a scholarly publisher?
  • Does the publisher have some interest in the topic that might lead to bias?
• Bias
  • Is the material objective and unbiased, or does it attempt to persuade or convince you of a certain point?