WRTG 121

Why do I need to evaluate information?

When you search for information, you're going to find lots of it. But is it accurate and reliable? You will have to determine this for yourself, and there are a number of tools that can help on our guide to evaluating information. 

 

One way to begin evaluating a source is to look at these five criteria in relation to the source: 

  • Currency: The timeliness of the information
  • Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs
  • Authority: The source of the information
  • Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the informational content
  • Purpose: The reason the information exists

 

Evaluating news sources can be especially tricky--our guide on this can help! You may also want to take a look at this Media Bias Chart (static version can be found here.) 

 

Reliability of Sources

Reliability of sources tutorial screenshotReliability of Sources discusses what makes information reliable and explores one model for evaluating reliability (CRAAP). You'll learn to point out and apply criteria that can be used to judge the reliability of information.

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First Year Experience & Children's Literature Librarian

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Sarah Fabian
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I am on sabbatical for the 2023-2024 academic year. Please contact Bob Stevens (rsteven5@emich.edu) for questions related to Children's Literature and Suzanne Gray (sgray17@emich.edu) for questions related to First Year Writing.