Here is a short video from the N.C. State librarians on evaluating sources for credibility:
Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
The Important Questions of Evaluation:
The 5 Ws
|
The Surface-Level Questions | The Deeper Questions |
|
Who? |
Who is the author, editor, or creator? Is the author qualified to write about this topic? Who is the publisher? |
What makes them qualified? First-hand experience? An advanced degree? |
|
What? |
What type of document is it? For example, is it a newspaper article? A blog? A government website? A scholarly article? A book? What is it about? |
There is no 'bad' type of document, but some have gone through a more rigorous review process than others. |
|
When? |
When was this source published? Is the publication date appropriate for your research? |
The 'up-to-date'-ness of a source matters more for some research questions than others. |
|
Where? |
Where did the authors get their information from? Are citations provided? |
What types of sources did the authors cite? |
|
Why? |
What was the goal of the author or publisher? Is there bias? |
Bias does not necessarily negate credibility. We all have biases. The question then becomes: are those biases disclosed? Do they impact the quality of the information? |
|
How? |
How was the work reviewed before publication? |
Was the work subject to peer review? |