Evaluating Sources

Use the Evaluation Criteria Below to Evaluate the Quality of Your Source.

• If your source does not satisfy these criteria, you may want to find a different, more reliable source

Currency

• Does the source list a publication or “last updated” date? Where?
• How current must information for your topic be? Why?
• Is older, historical info important for your topic? Why?

Reliability

• Where do the source’s facts or info come from? How can you tell?
• Does your source take the time to go through a review or editing process before it is published?  How do you know?

Authority

• What are the author’s or organization’s qualifications, credentials, expertise, affiliations, experience?
• Is the author an authoritative person or organization? What makes the author “authoritative” for your topic?

Purpose

• Why is this info being published? To inform, teach, sell, entertain, persuade, other? How did you determine this?
• Does the publisher/sponsor have biases?  How did you determine this? Is bias acceptable for your topic?