Evaluating Information Sources

Critical evaluation of the information you find is essential to conducting quality research.

With so much information available, in different formats, from so many different sources, each piece of information that you select must be carefully reviewed to ensure the quality, authority, perspective, and balance that best support your research.

Here are some general criteria to consider as you sort through your sources.

Some preliminary review or filtering is often integral to the production and publication process of individual sources. However, different publishers or creators exercise different levels of "quality control" over the information they publish. These varying levels of review make your own assessment critically important.

Some of the information for determining a source's quality and authority may be apparent in the source itself; however, some of it may require you to look in outside sources. The format of the source may determine what to look for and where to look.