Evaluating your information for its relevance to your topic, its credibility, and its truthfulness is crucial! Otherwise, you might be fooled or misled to believe false or incorrect information. While there are several evaluation methods to help students remember what to evaluate and how, they all include asking these essential questions.
Questions to Ask when Evaluating Information:
- Is this information relevant to my topic or need?
- Is this information up-to-date?
- Who is the author? Is the author a credible authority on the topic they are discussing?
- What do other sources say on the topic?
- What are the biases? Is one perspective or opinion being favored over another in an unfair, inaccurate, or prejudiced way?
- What are the sources being cited? Can you verify the truthfulness of facts, data, statements, and events that are included in the source?