Information is not hard to find. There's more information today then ever before so the problem is cutting through the volume to find what is essential to your topic.
Go to a database and type in a keyword or phrase and see what you get. It's not unusual to find that you can retrieve hundreds of articles even when you've targeted your search. Good grades, however, aren't handed out according to who can produce the biggest pile of paper. Instructors are usually more interested in finding the most appropriate information in terms of the assignment at hand.
Consider these two sites before moving on...
Can you determine that a web site or other source of information is of high quality or credible just because it's published somewhere? Like most things in life we're bound to be disappointed in the long run if we use only one criterion to judge things. The fact that information is published, in and of itself, is not adequate for determining the reliability of a source. What about domain names? Does understanding how to read a URL necessarily provide you with assurance that you know what you're looking at? No. But there's hope, read on.
If one or two guidelines don't ensure success, maybe the answer is in considering a combination of several aspects of information when trying to determine the quality and usefulness of a piece of information.
The short answer to the evaluation question is that most experts agree on a few guidelines for evaluating sources of information. Apply those and you have a reliable starting place. Let's get started by considering how much time needs to be allocated to considering and verifying sources. Does it matter that the White House Site isn't really the United States White House Site ? We'd spot that wouldn't we? But what about that WTO site? Was that legitimate or would it help to know more about it?
Evaluating what you find and use is an important research skill and it warrants as much time as you need to do it right. It requires good critical thinking (active, informed analysis) and happens at several different levels. A good place to start is to consider where the information came from and how that reflects on the content.
Now is a good time to point out that this is not where you'll learn about linkrot . This session focuses primarily on the concerns of an information literate web user. You are also going to need to consider the computer literacy and web design features of a web site but we'll leave that for another session. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Take a look at the links below. The first Rutger file below, focuses on the criteria used to evaluate an information source in general terms and the second link puts the focus on web pages since source material from the WWW is particularly challenging
- Consider Evaluating Sources
- Review the ideas related to Evaluating Web Pages
There's never enough time spent here but move on if you think you're ready. Citing what you use and making sure you recognize and identify your sources is another important step in the research process. Take a look at Citing & Quoting if you're ready to move on through this tutorial.