Keep these questions "on your radar" to help evaluate any source of information:
R: Relevance
How is the information that you have found relevant to your assignment?
- Does it relate to your topic or answer your research question?
- Does it meet the requirements for the assignment?
- Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is the one you will use?
A: Authority
Who is the author/creator of the work? It may be a person, publisher, or an educational or professional organization.
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Is the author known as expert in the field?
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Does the author work for a reputable institution, e.g. a university, research center or government?
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Does anyone cite this author/work? Does the author rely on other well-cited works?
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Is there contact information, e.g. a publisher or email address?
D: Date
When was the information created? Is the publication date important to you?
- Has the information been revised or updated?
- Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?
- If older, is this a seminal or landmark work?
- Are the links functional?
A: Accuracy
What clues can you get about the accuracy of the source?
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Was the work published by a peer-reviewed journal, academic press or other reliable publisher?
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Was the information reviewed by an editor or a subject expert before it was published?
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Do the references support the author's argument? Are the references properly cited?
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Can you verify any of the information in another source?
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Does the source look professional? Are there advertisements, typographical errors, or biased language?
R: Reason for writing
Why was this information created?
- To produce a balanced, well-researched work that creates new knowledge?
- Was it written as part of an ongoing debate, to counter an opposing claim?
- Was it written in order to inform, sell, persuade, or entertain
Adapted from:
Mandalios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal Of Information Science, 39, 470-478. doi:10.1177/0165551513478889