LibGuides: International Food Business: Evaluate Resources

Evaluate Resources: Key Points

Step 2 (find resources) and step 3 (evaluate resources) work very closely together. You will need to evaluate the relevance of your search's results to determine if your strategy is working or if you need to try something different. Evaluating resources for their accuracy is also an essential piece of the research process to make sure you are basing your conclusions on high-quality, reliable information.

Points to remember:

Take advantage of the tools available in databases! Don't jump right into reading an article, start by carefully reading the title, abstract, and keywords tagged in the article description and consider if they sound relevant to your research topic.
Ensure that the information comes from a reliable source. Use available clues such as author name and affiliations to find out more information. Authority is also contextual, so consider who you would expect to know the most about a topic, are their voices represented in the materials you found? Visit the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy for more information on the concept of authority in research.
"Peer Review" is a process whereby other experts in the field have reviewed and accepted a piece of research for publication. It's a form of "quality control" in academia. Although it is not a perfect process, it is widely used as an indicator of academic quality and can help you distinguish between popular and scholarly works.
The references list is an academic treasure chest! The references list shows where the material fits into the scholarly conversation on a topic by outlining all of the sources the author used to support their conclusions. This helps you determine the accuracy of the work by ensure they used reliable sources. It may also lead you to other articles that will help you with your own work (citation chaining)!

Video: Evaluating Sources

This video playlist will take you through some of the most important things to remember when evaluating sources, both in academic and everyday research activities:

Evaluating Sources and Fake News
This link will take you to the YouTube page for the video. You will find a transcript in the video description.

Evaluation Frameworks

It is important to engage with information thoughtfully and critically. The list below contains some examples of frameworks that can help guide you through what to consider when evaluating resources:

Evaluation Framework: FACTS

FACTS (pdf)
FACTS is an acronym to help you evaluate the relevance and credibility of information you encounter by asking some key questions.
It’s not intended as a checklist, but a set of guidelines to consider:

Find:
How did you find this information (web, library database, social media, etc.)?
Where is the information published (journal name, website name, etc.)? Is the source reliable? Do an external search to check for reviews/critiques.
What search terms did you use to find this info?
How could these keywords influence your results?

Aim:
Why was it written? To educate, to entertain, to sell?
What biases may exist due to the purpose?
Who is the intended audience?
Who benefits from this information?
Who is missing from the conversation?

Credibility:
Who is the author? What are their credentials and affiliations?
Are they well-known in the field? Check for other works and citations.
What other information about the author can you find?

Timeline:
When was the work published?
Current research is considered no more than 5 years old.
How does publication date affect your research? Do you need a longer date or should you only look at current material?

Sources:
How is the information supported?

Evaluation Framework: SIFT

STOP

Ask yourself if you recognize the information source and if you know anything about the website or the claim's reputation. If not, you can continue with the next parts of SIFT.
Take note if you have a strong reaction to the information you see (e.g., joy, pride, anger). If so, slow down before you share or use that information. We tend to react quickly and with less thought to things that evoke strong feelings. By pausing, you give your brain time to process your initial response and analyze the information more critically.

INVESTIGATE the source

Identify where this information comes from and consider the creator's expertise and agenda
Is it a news article that you found on a news website? If so, the source is that website. Is it information provided by a specific organization/company/etc.? If so, that organization is the source of the information.
Investigate the source of information using other sources - this is what we mean by lateral reading. Rather than simply reviewing the "About" page on the source you are looking at, open a new tab and use your search engine to find information on that specific organization or news outlet.
Look at what others have said about the source to help with your evaluation. Wikipedia will often provide basic information about an organization or news outlet, including its political stance.

FIND trusted coverage

Also sometimes referred to as "FIND better coverage"
As you evaluate sources more regularly, you will build up a list of trusted sources that you can turn to
Try one or more of the following fact-checking sites, which have done the verification work for you. You can use these sites to look up specific events or claims, as well as organizations

TRACE claims, quotes, and media back to the original context

Many sources that you find online contain re-reported information rather than original content
See if you can find an original source mentioned in the article (such as a research study or the original reporting)
Return to that original source in order to recontextualize it