Chapter 10 : Evaluating Information Sources☀️

Question 1

Audience

Answer 1

The group of people for whom the information is intended

Question 2

Criteria

Answer 2

Standards or principles against which something is judged, or which are used to help make a decision, for example, deciding which database or platform to use

Question 3

Currency

Answer 3

Refers to how up-to-date an information source is and when (i.e. the date) it was created or last updated

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

Concerns forming an opinion on the value or quality of something. This can also be referred to as assessing

Question 5

Information source

Answer 5

A source with potentially useful information, for example an article or a book, or a person such as a lecturer or a doctor.

Question 6

Objectivity

Answer 6

The ability to consider only facts and to not be influenced by personal feelings or opinions.

Question 7

Peer-reviewed publication

Answer 7

This is a publication that has been read and evaluated by experts in a specific field of study or profession. It can also be referred to as a refereed publication.

Question 8

Reputation

Answer 8

The opinion or beliefs that people have about someone or something. A reliable information source or author should have a good reputation

Question 9

Resource name

Answer 9

In the internet environment, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) resource name is a file name with an extension to indicate the type of file, such as * html, * pdf or * dox. It can also be a sound file or graphic file.

Question 10

Server domain

Answer 10

Specifies the name of the web server on which a web page is located. It often starts with www. It includes the name of the company, institute or organisation, a generic code (e.g. * ac or * edu) and the country code (e.g. * za)

Question 11

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Answer 11

The address of the website, web page or document that reveals information
about the electronic document, such as the owner and the nature of the
organisation, as well as the document itself or the web page

Question 12

1.Identify and assess information source

Answer 12

Scan the bibliographic record (the representation of the publication) if available. Look at the title
descriptors and abstract

For web pages, consider the title, URL and the brief description displayed with the search results.

For a blog or Wikipedia entry or a posting on a social networking site, scan the available information to determine if it meets your information need

Question 13

2. Is the source suitable

Answer 13

You can ask the questions below to determine if a source is suitable for your needs:

Who is the intended audience of the information source?

What is the level of presentation of the information source?

In what language is the information source?

What is the reading level of the information source?

Is it a peer-reviewed information source?

How current is the information source?

Is it a key information source or from a key researcher(s)?

Is the information source affiliated with an expert or a professional organisation?

Question 14

Who is the intended audience of the information source?

Answer 14

The intended audience is the recipient at which the information source is directed. Is the intended
recipient a layperson, a subject specialist, a professional, academic, practitioner, first-year or
postgraduate student, a schoolchild, parent, medical doctor or patient?

Question 15

What is the level of presentation of the information source?

Answer 15

The level of presentation of an information source refers to factors such as its complexity and the
way in which it is presented (e.g. mostly text or mainly statistics, graphs and charts). To determine
the level of presentation of an information source, vou need to ask a number of questions about the
source.

Question 16

In what language is the information source?

Answer 16

For most people, it is easier to read publications in their first language. However, these are not
always available. If you need to use an information source that is not in your first language, you
need to consider its complexity and whether the language is accessible to you in a way that you are
able to follow the discussion. If it is not, you could work on your comprehension of the language.
However, if you do not understand the language used in a source, you will need to search for an
alternative.

Question 17

What is the reading level of the information source?

Answer 17

The reading level of an information source refers to the complexity of the language used in the
source. Sometimes an information source can be well structured, with detailed definitions and
background information, but it can still be too difficult to read.
You need to assess whether the information is clear, well organised and at a reading level that you
can access and follow.

Question 18

ls it a peer-reviewed information source?

Answer 18

Students are expected to use peer-reviewed articles, journals and conference papers. In a scholarly
context, a peer-reviewed or refereed publication is a publication that is read and evaluated by
experts in a field of study. In the case of a journal article, it is evaluated according to the criteria of
the journal. In the case of a conference paper, it is evaluated according to the criteria of the
conference committee. Lecturers may bring these publications to their students attention.

Question 19

How current is the information source?

Answer 19

Your purpose in producing a document, as well as the discipline and topic determine how current
you need the information to be. For example, for Political Science and Economics, recent daily
newspapers might be considered essential sources of information. When using web news sites,
always check to see how often the site is updated. For Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Computer
Science, and topics concerning Information Technology, the latest information is considered
essential. For History, archival information sources are essential. Archival information sources are
historical sources, such as contracts, diaries and birth certificates kept in the archives. For topics
such as the history of medical education, you often need to consult older publications, which are not
necessarily archival documents. It might also sometimes be necessary to consult both the older and
the latest publications on a topic, depending on what the topic is and the kind of document you need
to produce
Generally, however, most contexts require you to use information sources that are either current or
up-to-date. The most current information sources have the latest views on a topic. They also cite
older sources, so they can be used to identify important sources for a topic, as well as the key
researchers in a field. Journal articles are generally more up-to-date than books because it is
quicker to publish an article than a book. However, for some topics, for example, research methods,
it is better to use a textbook. Just make sure you use the most recent edition.
To find out whether an information source is up-to-date, you must determine the year in which it was
published.

Question 20

Is it a key information source or from a key researcher(s)?

Answer 20

At postgraduate level, university students are expected to consult key information sources or
seminal works, as well as ongoing publications by key researchers in the field, such as those who
developed the particular theory you are writing about. Although some key researchers are
successful in explaining complex concepts in easy-to-understand language, many academic
publications may be too complex for undergraduate students. If it is difficult for you to understand
such publications, it may be an indication that you need to work on your subject understanding and
reading skills. If you work in industry, there may also be key sources or information researchers you
can rely on.

Question 21

Is the information source affiliated with an expert or a

professional organisation?

Answer 21

It is generally recognised that information from a professional organisation (sometimes referred to
as a scholarly society) is reliable. This means that you can trust the information to be accurate and
you will not be criticised for citing information from such information sources, including websites.
Some professional websites also provide information for the layperson, such as a website written by
doctors for patients.

Question 22

3. Is the source accurate?

Answer 22

Once you have identified an information source, you need to evaluate the accuracy of its
information. You can ask the following questions to do this:

Are there obvious language errors?

Is it objective?

Does it contain inaccurate facts?

Note that checking the accuracy of an information source applies to both traditional sources and
social media

Question 23

Are there obvious language errors?

Answer 23

You need to check that the publication is free of obvious errors, such as typographical, spelling and
grammar mistakes.

Question 24

Is it objective?

Answer 24

You need to check whether the publication is objective and unbiased or whether it tries to sway your
opinion. A subjective publication is not necessarily bad. Nevertheless, as a reader, you should either
be informed that a specific point of view is supported, as would be the case in most academic
works, or you should at least be aware of the bias in the work, so that you can supplement it with
other sources and verify the statements arguments or Information

Question 25

Does it contain inaccurate facts?

Answer 25

If you come across information that contradicts information from other sources, you need to verify it
by consulting additional sources. This should also be a warning to use information from that
particular source with care

Question 26

4. Is the source credible?

Answer 26

The criteria for evaluating the credibility of an information source include the following questions:

Is it written by a reputable author?

Is it published by a reputable publisher?

How extensive is the reference list or bibliography?

How reliable are the hyperlinks?

Question 27

Is it written by a reputable author?

Answer 27

In an academic context, your lecturers can provide you with the names of reputable authors (these
can include key researchers). Recommended reading lists, as well as the authors cited in those
readings can also give you an indication of authors whose work is respected. If you are not sure
about an author’s expertise, you can try to check his or her qualifications and credentials, as well as
other publications, on the internet or in a professional profile posted on LinkedIn.
There are also databases that can be checked to see how often an author has been cited. For web-
based information sources, it is important to determine whether an author or at least the corporate
body or organisation is indicated and whether there are any contact details available. If not, you
would be well advised to ignore the site. Remember, though, that people who post regularly on
social networking sites can also build a solid reputation.

Question 28

Is it published by a reputable publisher?

Answer 28

Some publishers specialise in specific fields and build up a good reputation for their work. For
example, Sage Publishing specialises in quantitative and qualitative research and is respected for
the quality of its books and journals. University presses, for example those of Oxford or Cambridge
University, often also have good reputations, as do publishers of many series of books on a
particular subject. Each discipline will have its own list of reliable series. In Computer Science, the
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series is highly valued.

Question 29

How extensive is the reference list or bibliography?

Answer 29

An extensive reference list or bibliography can indicate that an information source, such as an
article, book, report, conference paper, thesis or dissertation is well researched. However, it does
not guarantee quality and accuracy unless it has been peer reviewed or quality checked.
Internet information sources, such as websites or blog entries, often do not have reference lists or
bibliographies. A notable exception is Wikipedia. Its pages contain references and these are useful
for establishing the authority of an entry. However, sometimes a Wikipedia entry contains a note
warning users that the entry either has no or insufficient supporting references.

Question 30

How reliable are the hyperlinks?

Answer 30

When vou use a website, you should check if quoted links take you to reliable sites and whether
these sites are working. If many of the links do not work, it shows that the site is not well
maintained.

Question 31

5. Is the source useable?

Answer 31

If you decide that an information source is suitable for your needs and situation, and that it meets
with all the criteria, you need to get the full-text publication, the full website or web page or the full
blog entry and assess whether it is usable or not.

Sometimes you may find information sources that meet all the criteria, but there might still be
extraneous factors (factors outside the information source) that make it difficult or impossible for you
to use the source. Ask yourself the following questions to determine whether an information source
is useable:

Are there subscription fees?

Are there any hardware or software requirements?

Is the website stable?

Is the website suitable for disabled users?

Are the links in the website active?

Question 32

Are there subscription fees?

Answer 32

You may come across websites or documents that are available to subscribers only, for example,
newsletters of professional organisations, journal articles or reference works. Libraries and
information services subscribe to many information resources, journals and reference works. These
should be your first port of call if you are in an academic context.

Question 33

Are there any hardware or software requirements?

Answer 33

Some websites or documents may require special requirements for sound equipment or additional
software for video, audio, older graphics formats or even compressed files. Common additional
software needed is Adobe Acrobat Reader to open PDF documents (portable document format)
You can install Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.

Question 34

ls the website stable?

Answer 34

One of the disadvantages of the web is that it can be unstable. Sites are sometimes temporarily
unavailable or a site that you accessed today may no longer be available tomorrow. However, you
can expect the sites of academic institutions, digital libraries, online journals, government bodies,
professional organisations and large commercial companies to be more reliable than some of the
other sites. If a website is unstable, it is not necessarily an indication of quality, but it may affect
whether you can easily access it.

Question 35

Is the website suitable for disabled users?

Answer 35

Although there is an international trend to cater for the needs of disabled people (in some countries
this is through legislation), you may still come across websites that are not suitable for disabled
users. For example, websites may not allow for color blindness or for enlarging the font. This is not
an indication of the quality of an information source, but might affect your ability to use it.

Question 36

Are the links in the website active?

Answer 36

Another problem with some documents is inactive links. Often the list of results from search engines
may seem useful, only for you to find that some of the sites have many links that are no longer
active. This is not an indication of the quality of an information source, but might affect your ability to
use it.

Question 37

6. Additional criteria for evaluating web sources

Answer 37

All the criteria for evaluating information sources in the preceding sections apply to the evaluation of
web sources. Due to the fact that any person can publish information on the internet, it is necessary
to employ additional criteria and extra care when you evaluate web sources.

Question 38

What does the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) reveal about

an internet information source?

Answer 38

The URL reveals useful information about an electronic document, including the name of the owner,
and the nature of the organisation and the document or webpage. It is easy for anyone to publish on
the web, so you need to be able to analyse the URL of an internet information source to ascertain
what to expect in terms of quality before you go to the trouble of accessing the site.

Question 39

What does the URL protocol reveal?

Answer 39

There are different types of protocol including Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) or File Transfer
Protocol ((tp). For web addresses, the protocol is ‘http:// and for secure sites (for example,
when purchasing something online), it is https.//. A lot of websites now choose to transfer http
traffic onto https for security.

Question 40

What does the URL server domain reveal?

Answer 40

The server domain specifies the name of the web server on which the page is located. It often
starts with www, followed by the domain name. In this case of the example medpharm.co.za
the domain name includes the following
An indication of the name of the company, institution or organisation, for example, ‘up’ (for
University of Pretoria), ‘microsoft’, or ‘medpharm’ (for Medpharm Publications)
The server domain. This is an extremely important guide to deciding whether to access a
website or not. The generic code, for example, ‘*ac’ (for academic), gives a good indication
of the type of group or the nature of the institution. It is important to note this part of the
domain name as it can indicate the content, presentation style and the quality that you can
expect. There are examples of the most common generic domain codes below.
A two-letter country code (e.g. * za’ for South Africa). There is no country code for the
United States of America as the internet started there It is important to note the country
code because it can be an indicator of the language and the download speed. For
example, if you are in South Africa networks in countries to the east of South Africa (eg

Question 41

What does the URL path reveal?

Answer 41

The https://medpharm.co.za/journals/pnt/ path specifies the location of a document or page on
the server. It can include the names of subfolders. The path is sometimes also referred to as
the directory or subdirectory.
The path in the example indicates that pt (Professional Nursing Today) is in a sub-section of
Medpharm Publications main webpage called Journals”

Question 42

What does the URL resource name reveal?

Answer 42

as an ‘*.html’ file, sound file or graphics file. The resource extension, such as * html’ or * htm’
indicates the type of file, or it may simply be a description of the file. Some other extensions are
** ppt (MS PowerPoint), *docx’ (MS Word), * ps’ (Postscript) and * pdf. The ‘pdf indicates
that the file is in portable document format and a special pdf reader, such as Adobe Acrobat
Reader, is required to read it. Images might have the extension “ jpg and sound might have
the extension * mp3’. These extensions may indicate that you need special software to view
the information.