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.
Review 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.
updated:
28 August, 2009