James H. Thomason Library

Evaluating Information

All information, whether in print or electronic format, should be evaluated before selecting it for your college work. Here are some questions you should ask first:

• CURRENT?  What are the revision and publication dates? Is the information current?
• RELEVANT? How well do the search results match your keywords or fulfill your information need? For what audience was the information written?
• AUTHORITY?  Who is the author? What makes them qualified?
• ACCURATE?  Do other sources confirm the facts and statistics found in the source?
• BIASED? Is the intent to persuade? Is bias evident?

For additional information about evaluating resources, please visit the sites below:

Books:
How to Evaluate Books Colorado State University Library

Articles:
How to Evaluate Articles Colorado State University Library

Internet:
How to Evaluate a Web Page Colorado State University Library
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly by Susan E. Beck

Both Print & Electronic:

Evaluating Print vs. Internet Sources Purdue University OWL
Evaluating Sources   PC Writing Center