LibGuides: Agricultural Business: Step 3: Evaluate Resources

Step 3: 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)!

FACTS: An Evaluation Tool

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?

Video: Evaluating Sources

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