ENG 151: Information Literacy - Source Evaluation

Knowing more about your information can help you evaluate it properly. Start by identifying its format and then the source type.

• Format refers to how or where you accessed the information. Is it in a journal? A book?

Google (or any other search engine) is not a format of information - it's a tool to help you find information!

• Source type refers to the specific piece of information, like the article in a journal. 

Both the information format and source type can tell you more about:

• How the information was created.
• Its intended audience.
• What kind of review and publication process it went through.

There is a range of source types that reflects their intended audience; purpose; appearance; and length of their creation, review, and publication processes.

Popular Sources

• Content created and published quickly
• Some review, maybe none
• May or may not cite sources
• Written by anyone
• Audience is the general public
• Appearance is colorful, contains images, and may contain ads
• Purpose is to inform, entertain, discuss current events, share opinions, sell a product, monetize content

Scholarly Sources

• Content is created after considerable research done by experts
• Content is reviewed extensively by other experts
• Written by experts in that research area
• Audience is other researchers or scholars
• Appearance is plain, starts with an abstract, and contains a lengthy list of references at the end
• Purpose is to share findings from original research

Other Sources

Some source types don't neatly fit in the popular or scholarly categories. This includes academic information retrieved from books, primary sources, government documents, statistics, etc. These sources are reviewed more thoroughly and take longer to be published than common popular sources, but they have not gone through the official peer review process.

A Note About News Sources

All news sources are considered popular because of the characteristics listed above. However, because styles of reporting (or journalism genres) vary widely, the publication process of a news source will vary. This often depends on what kind of reporting is being done.

Much of the difference in the research that goes into a news story and how much review it had comes down to the purpose of the reporting. To help you understand a little more about news sources, here are some examples of reporting, or journalism genres.

Investigative Reporting: The purpose of investigative reporting is usually to expose wrongdoing, crimes, social injustice, political corruption, and the like. A reporter will spend months conducting interviews and researching people, court cases, police reports, public records, and more. An investigative reporter must corroborate information, verify all of their sources, and present their report in a truthful and fair way. Resulting works are reviewed thoroughly before being published and tend to be much lengthier than a typical short-form news piece covering some local or community event. Investigative journalism is sometimes also referred to as Watchdog Journalism.

Opinions and Editorials: Opinion pieces, sometimes called Op/Eds, are when the reporter includes their own thoughts or beliefs on a topic. This means the final product is subjective and biased. Quality pieces will support opinions with evidence and cite those sources. The purpose of opinion pieces is to persuade or manipulate. Sometimes this writing is labeled as an opinion or editorial, but not always. In some cases, opinions may be presented as facts. Look for language like is considered to be, it's likely that, suggests, possibly, etc.

Analysis: Sometimes confused with Op/Eds, analysis writing focuses on verifiable facts and the purpose is to clarify or further explain the facts. Analysis writing examines the "who, what, when, and where" to uncover the "why."

Feature Writing: This type of reporting may also involve lengthy research, but the purpose of feature writing is to capture audience interest or bring awareness to an issue. Some examples include human interest stories or personality profiles.

Breaking News: When something big happens, the first accounts of it will appear as breaking news stories. News outlets will send a reporter to the scene, who will have to quickly assess the situation in order to start reporting on it. Breaking news stories will often be identified as such and will usually tell readers that more information will become available as events unfold. The purpose is to get information out quickly, especially when public safety may be at stake. This also means that breaking news stories may not be reviewed as much before they are published. Because events might be unfolding quickly, sometimes facts can change as more details are uncovered. Quality reporting will make updates with any necessary corrections. Some breaking news stories will maintain the original piece and then provide date- and time-stamped updates, allowing the reader to see a timeline of updates to the original story.