Research Guides: Civil Engineering: Evaluating Information Sources

Evaluating Information Sources

Whether you're searching on the internet via Google, or on the library's website via Omni, you will come across an overwhelming amount of information sources. When writing an assignment, report, or essay, the information sources you use must be able to properly support your argument. But how do you know if an information source is a good one and whether you should use it? One place to start is to evaluate that information source by asking yourself questions using OSCAR - Objective, Substantiated, Current, Authoritative, and Relevant.

OSCAR

OSCAR	Questions to Ask
Objective	Why was the item written? Is the purpose of the item clearly outlined by the author? What the item written in order to provide information, persuade, advocate, entertain, or sell something? What is the perspective or point of view of the author? Does the item provide facts, opinions, or propaganda? Is the item presented in an objective (unbiased) or subjective (biased) manner? Is the language used emotional, provocative, or infammatory? Does the item promote a political, religious, ideological, cultural, institutional, personal, or social agenda? Does the item include advertising?
Substantiated	What materials are cited or referenced in the item? Are those materials relevant or related to the topic of the item? What evidence or data was presented in the item? Are you able to verify the evidence of data from another source? How was the evidence or data collected? Did the authors collect the data themselves, or was it collected by someone else? Has the item been peer-reviewed or refereed?
Current	When was the item written and/or published? Has more recent or updated information been written or published about the topic? Does the date of the publication matter? Do you need the most up-to-date information about a topic, or are you looking for historical information about a topic? Are the links included in the item functional? Are the dates of the cited or referenced material reasonable for the date of publication?
Authoritative	Who are the authors of the item? Are the authors clearly identified? What is the background, expertise, or qualifications of the authors? Does the background, expertise, or qualifications of the authors match the topic they wrote about? What groups, organizations, or institutions are the authors affiliated with? Who published the item?
Relevant	Is the topic and scope of the item relevant to the project or assignment you're working on? Does the item include the relevant timeframe and/or geographical areas you need? Does the item include detailed information about the topic, or does it include more broad and general information about the topic? Who was the intended audience of the item? What reading level is the item written for?

An Alternative - RADAR

Relevance - How is the information relevant to your assignment?

Authority - Who is the author? What makes this person or organization an authoritative source?

Date - When was this information published and is the publication date important to you?

Accuracy - Where are they getting their information from? Does it have citations and references? Are they using reputable sources or explaining how they gathered their data?

Reason for writing - Why did the author publish this information?

Mandalios. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal of Information Science, 39(4), 470–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551513478889.