Evaluation Criteria (General)

• Evaluating information sources will help you determine their quality and decide whether or not they will be appropriate for your purposes.

• Use the following criteria to evaluate information sources:

Currency refers to the timeliness of information

• How current is the information?
• When was it published?
• When was it updated?

Relevance refers to the suitability of the information to meet your needs

• Does it answer your question?
• Does it relate to your topic?
• Who is the intended audience for this resource?
• Does it use scholarly or technical language?
• Does it cover important issues in enough depth?

Authority refers to the credibility of the source of the information

• Who is the creator of this information?
• Are they an authority in this field? What makes them an authority? Degrees? Publications?
• What are the creator’s credentials? Academic or institutional affiliation?
• Are they qualified in this field?

Accuracy refers to the truthfulness or validity of the information

• Is the information correct?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Are there citations or documentations to that evidence?
• Is there an explanation of the research methodology?
• Is there a way to confirm the information?

Purpose refers to the reason why the source was written and for whom the source was intended

• What is the purpose of this information? Entertain? Sell? Persuade? Inform?
• Is the information presented by the creator a fact, opinion, or propaganda?
• Are various sides of an issue presented evenly?
• Is the language biased or objective in tone?
• Are there political, religious, cultural, ideological or personal biases present?

Evaluation Criteria - Web Content

• The following is adapted from Starting Your Research – Evaluate Your Sources by University of California Santa Cruz, University Library (2017)

• Unlike the library’s collection of online databases, information retrieved using search engines (such as Google) has not been evaluated and/or organized by librarians, or humans for that matter. Anyone can publish on the Web without passing the content through an editor. Pages might be written by an expert on the topic, a journalist, a disgruntled consumer or even a child. There are no standards to ensure accuracy. Web resources are not permanent. Some well-maintained sites are updated with very current information, but other sites may become quickly dated or disappear altogether without much if any notice.

If you are using a Web page as possible research citation, you should especially consider the following criteria:

Authority: It is often difficult to determine who the author or sponsor of a web page is, much less their credentials or qualifications.

• Is the author identified? If so, are his/her credentials/qualifications listed?
• Does the Web page have a sponsor? If so, is the sponsor reputable?
• Does the Web page provide information about the author or the sponsor? Is there contact information for the author? (e.g. email address, mailing address, phone number)
• Does the URL contain a .edu, .gov domain?

Purpose: It is important to determine the goals of the Webpage. You can check to see if these are clearly stated in a mission statement or an “About Us” page. This can help you determine if the page is intended to inform, explain, or persuade.

• What is the purpose or motive for the site? (e.g. education, commercial, entertainment, promotional)
• Is the information biased or is the author presenting more than one side of the argument?
• Is the page designed to sway opinion? Is the purpose of the page clearly identified?
• Is there a sponsor or advertising on the page? If so, does this influence the information? Is the site trying to sell you something? How easy is it to differentiate advertisement from content?

Currency: The effectiveness of a Web page can sometime be lessened if it becomes out-of-date. If the Web page relies on information such as hyperlinks, directory, or timely information, etc. it should be updated and revised as the information changes.

• Are the dates provided for when the information was written or when the page was last modified or updated?
• Are the links (if any) up-to-date?

Coverage: Web resources are often presented in a different context than print resources, making it difficult to determine the extent of coverage.

• What topics are covered?
• How in-depth does the information go?
• Does the page offer information not found elsewhere?