Quality

Whether using a book, a scholarly article, or a Web site, it is important to use the following criteria to critically evaluate the information you locate:

Currency | Authority | Purpose | Point of view

When evaluating authority, ask yourself these questions:

What are the author's credentials? (education, employment, expert, government agency, other articles/books, etc.)
Are the articles peer reviewed?
Are sources cited appropriately (notes, bibliographies, etc.)?
Evaluating Web sites

Example

For your assignment, you are investigating the pros and cons of Internet privacy. When searching, you are likely to find information written by authors with various backgrounds:

Journalists will report on public opinion polls and on government activities in newspaper and magazine articles
Special interest groups, organizations and associations that are for or against privacy on the Internet will create publications and, more likely, Web sites to disseminate information and voice their opinions
Experts and scholars in the fields of communications, computer science, public policy and social sciences may publish research studies that investigate various issues related to this topic.