Why? How? What?

• Why is evaluation important?
   •  Not all information is reliable, authoritative, objective, current, or appropriate for academic research.
  

   •   Critical evaluation of information resources is necessary to ensure that you select the best resources to support your work.
  

   •   Thoughtful review of each piece of information that you select will help you to produce quality work.
  

• How do you evaluate information?
   •   To evaluate information you should carefully appraise the characteristics of the sources that create and publish information.
  

   •   You should thoroughly analyze the content contained within information resources.
  

   •   After evaluating an information resource, you should use the results of the assessment to determine whether or not it is reasonable and prudent to use particular pieces of information for a designated purpose (i.e., academic research or a class assignment).
  

• What are the criteria for evaluating information?
   •  To systematically and effectively evaluate information, you should examine each of the following criteria for the information resources that you are considering:
  
  
  

  Bibliographic Criteria	Content Criteria
  Authority	Accuracy
  Currency	Coverage/Scope
  Intended Audience	Objectivity/Bias
  Source/Publisher	Quality
  	Relevance