IRIS 42: Information and Research Instruction Suite for two-year colleges
  • Home
    • » Evaluating » Evaluating Information Part 2: Books and Periodicals

Evaluating Sources, Part 2: Books and Articles

Check those assumptions

Books and periodicals go through an editing and review process by a publisher and/or an editor who checks for quality and content. If you use a book from your college library, it's likely a librarian made the decision that this book would be a positive addition to the collection.

Both these factors provide strong recommendations, but they do not mean that every book you find in a college library is reliable, or that the book is appropriate for your needs.

stack of booksReview the six evaluation criteria

If you worked through Evaluating Sources, Part One, you were introduced to the six A.S.P.E.C.T.s of evaluating information:

A: Authority

S: Sources

P: Purpose

E: Evenness

C: Coverage

T: Timeliness

This module will show you how to apply these criteria to books and periodical articles.

Outcomes

After completing the series of three evaluation modules, you will be able to

  • Evaluate the usefulness and relevance of any source.
  • Define and apply evaluation criteria to any source.
  • Use quality sources of information for your research.

Next >>


updated: 28 August, 2009