Evaluating Your Sources

Before you decide to use a source for your project, you need to ask these questions:

Who?
Who wrote it?
What are the author’s qualifications, if any?
Did the author include contact information?

What?
What information did you find?
Why did the author create it?
Who is the target audience?
Is the author being objective or biased?
Is there any obvious conflict of interest?
Advertisements?

When?
When was this source published?
Is the information current?

Where?
Where was this information found?
Is it a reputable source?
If the source is a website, whose site is it?
What organization sponsors the website?

If you are using the Internet (and you should if you have access to it!) remember that searching the Web can be like mining for gold. You have to go through tons of rock to find the gold nuggets!