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ENG 1101: Representations of Pacific Life

Choosing & Evaluating Sources

Choosing the right resources is a critical step in academic research. Not all sources are created equal, and it's essential to assess their credibility, relevance, and reliability. Here’s how to effectively evaluate and select resources:

  • Check for Credibility: Consider the author’s expertise, the publication's reputation, and whether the content is peer-reviewed.
  • Assess Relevance: Does the source directly address your research question? Ensure the scope and focus align with your needs.
  • Avoid Bias and Cherry-Picking: Be mindful of your own biases and avoid selecting information that only supports your viewpoint. Instead, seek diverse perspectives and let the evidence guide your conclusions.
  • Break Out of Algorithmic Filters: Move beyond traditional search engines like Google, which often prioritize popular or sponsored content. Use academic databases to access peer-reviewed and high-quality sources for a more balanced view.
  • Evaluate for Accuracy: Cross-check facts and data against other credible sources to confirm their validity.
  • Identify Gaps in Research: Be open to recognizing what isn’t covered and explore areas where further inquiry might be needed.

By carefully evaluating and choosing your resources, you ensure that your research is built on a strong foundation of accurate and reliable information.

You can use a checklist approach, the CRAAP Test, to take a look at specific parts of the source you want to evaluate. CRAAP stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.

 nullCheck out the CRAAP evaluation checklist for more information.

Moving Beyond CRAAP: Introducing the SIFT Method

You've mastered the CRAAP method for evaluating sources—now, let's explore the SIFT method, a modern approach designed for today’s digital information landscape. SIFT stands for:

  • Stop: Pause and reflect on your emotional response to the headline or information before engaging or sharing, as headlines often aim to provoke a strong reaction; then use the other three SIFT steps.
  • Investigate the Source: Look into the source's credibility and expertise.
  • Find Better Coverage: Check if other reliable sources cover the same information.
  • Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media: Trace the original context of claims, quotes, and media to understand their origins.

This method empowers you to quickly assess the reliability of information by focusing on context, credibility, and cross-referencing. SIFT is particularly effective for evaluating AI-generated content, helping you identify biases and verify the accuracy of machine-produced information. By encouraging you to seek out diverse perspectives and verify facts, SIFT can also help you avoid filtered information bubbles. Enhance your research skills with the SIFT method and navigate the vast sea of information with confidence and precision.

Evaluating for Credibility

Three Questions to Ask of Your Sources

Spotting unreliable and misleading information is becoming more difficult in today's complex information landscape. Individuals and organizations that want to spread misinformation are often familiar with the tips traditionally used to judge credibility, and they know how to manipulate them. This means that tricks like checking for spelling errors on a website, or trusting certain domain names (like .org), don't really work anymore to judge a source's trustworthiness. 

In response to these challenges, Civic Online Reasoning (COR) developed a method for investigating credibility based on how professional fact-checkers approach information sources.

To go deeper than the CRAAP test, and focus on the most salient aspects of evaluating your sources, ask these three COR questions:

To find out who is behind the information, investigate who the author is.

We should care about who is behind our information sources because different individuals and organizations have a wide range of motivations for sharing information. Sometimes they want to make money or entertain. Sometimes they want to express opinions or create policy change. Different motivations can influence the information they present.

Consider these questions:

  • Where is their funding from?
  • What is their perspective or mission?
  • What are their motivations?

To find out what the evidence is, ask how this source supports its claims.

Because different authors have a range of motivations for sharing information, it is important that we do not take a source's word for granted. Instead, explore what evidence the source is using to support its claims.

Consider these questions:

  • Is there evidence?
  • What is the source of the evidence?
  • Is that source trustworthy? Is there enough evidence to fully support the claims?

To find out what the evidence is, go to other information sources (trustworthy ones!) and see if they support or contradict the source you are evaluating.

Some sources are more credible than others. Seeking multiple, trustworthy accounts on a topic will help you gain a stronger understanding of a topic than relying on any single source would.

Consider these questions:

  • Among different sources, what is the same? What is different? What trends emerge?
  • Is there agreement? Disagreement? Why?
  • What is the perspective of other sources?

Evaluating for Source Type

Different assignments and research interests all require different types of sources. Sources can be categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary sources.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are first-hand accounts of an event or topic, created by people directly connected to it.

Examples of primary sources include:

  • Original research
  • Datasets
  • Diaries, speeches, and correspondence
  • Photographs, video, and audio
  • Interviews
  • Autobiographies
  • Original documents, like texts of laws

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources interpret, evaluate, or analyze primary sources.

Examples of secondary sources include:

  • Books and articles that interpret and/or review research works
  • Documentaries (though they often contain primary sources)
  • Textbooks
  • Histories and biographies
  • Literary criticism and interpretation
  • Political analyses and commentaries

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources index, abstract, organize, and otherwise compile other sources. 

Examples of tertiary sources include:

  • Bibliographies
  • Indexes
  • Abstracts
  • Encyclopedias
  • Other reference sources