Finding and Evaluating Information
Jennifer Horne
Finding and Evaluating Information
In the previous chapter, I introduced some of the many resources that UK Libraries provides, including books, e-books, journal articles, and many, many databases. I hope you will use these authoritative and trustworthy sources but also recognize that you will also be using Google and other Internet sources as well. You may also be using AI tools like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to learn more about your topic.
When you find sources on the Internet or through AI tools, it is so important to evaluate the source for its accuracy – is it reputable? Does the author or organization have an ideological bias that is affecting its value as a source?
What are some things that make you decide a site is credible?
- Authority – who is the author? Do they have credentials as an expert?
- Accuracy – are their arguments supported by evidence? Do they have citations to other sources? Are they published in a peer-reviewed journal?
- Currency – do you know when it was written? How timely is the information?
You may make assumptions based on the site’s URL, thinking a .org or a .gov is a sign of trustworthiness. But know that .org domains are no longer reserved for organizations and anyone can purchase one! Government sites can and have been used as tools for partisan purposes. And whether a site looks legit or not is often impossible to tell at first glance.
Fortunately you already have the tools and skills to evaluate something you find on the Internet. If you see something on social media that seems crazy, what do you do? You probably look to see if it is being reported on other trustworthy sites. For example, you might look to verify the information on the New York Times or People Magazine or ESPN or CNN.
This is called lateral reading, which is a skill used by professional fact-checkers that helps them quickly review a source and determine whether that source is credible or not. This means instead of only staying on one webpage to determine if a source is trustworthy, lateral reading encourages you to leave the webpage and use other webpages to decide if a source is credible or not.
It’s not enough to look around the website itself, because you will only see what they want you to see. Instead, open multiple tabs in your browser to follow links found within the source and do supplemental searches on names, organizations, or topics you find. These additional perspectives will help you to evaluate the original article and can end up saving you time.
