Quickly Evaluate Information Using the "3 C's"
Credibility (their expertise makes your paper more authoritative)
- Who is the author? (okay to "Google" them)
- What makes them an expert on this subject?
- Is the author's intention to educate (share knowledge) or persuade? Are they trying to sell you something?
Promotional Distortion - Are they trying to sell you something disguised as education?
Full-page ads and other promotional materials (articles, reports, etc.) can be designed to trick the viewer. They may even deceive viewers by selectively using facts (or fake info presented as "facts") to promote their products.
Content
- Is it good enough for college-level research? Or is it too basic? Too "scholarly" (assume a level of understanding beyond your grasp)?
- Are you the intended audience?
- Does it provide you with new knowledge?
- Does it support or challenge what you already know about the subject?
Currency
- Is it current enough for your research needs? Or could you likely find something more recent?
- Does it provide you with an accurate snapshot of the time? Fill in blanks of recent events? Provide a history or synthesis of relevant information?
- Remember, currency is relative:
- News = published consistently throughout the day
- Newspapers = published every day or weekly
- Magazines = published weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly
- Scholarly Journals = published quarterly (on average)
- Books = take a year or more to write, publish, and distribute
- Statistics = often take a year or more to collect, analyze, publish, and distribute