Critical literacy ensures that anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and decolonization is put into practice. Engaging in critical information literacy, readers are encouraged to ask questions such as where the power is in the text, whose viewpoint is present, and whose is missing.
Evaluating your sources is a crucial step of the research process. You need to evaluate carefully each source to determine its appropriateness and quality.
Evaluation criteria includes:
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Purpose |
Why was the resource written? Was the author's purpose to inform, persuade, or to refute a particular idea or point of view? |
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Audience |
Is the resource intended for the public, scholars, professionals, etc. |
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Authority |
What are the author's qualifications? Consider author's educational background, past writings, and experience. Is the author associated with an organization or institution? Who is the publisher? Are they well known? Does any group control the publishing company? |
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Accuracy |
Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda? Facts can be usually verified. Opinions evolve from the interpretation of facts. Are the author's conclusions or facts supported with references? |
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Timeliness |
When was the information published? Is the date of publication appropriate for your topic? |
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Coverage |
Is it relevant to your topic? Is the topic covered in depth, partially or is it a broad overview? Does the resource add new information, update other sources, or substantiate other resources that you have consulted? |
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Objectivity |
Does the author present multiple viewpoints or is it biased? How do critical reviews rate the work? |
It is particularly important to evaluation information that you find on the Web. Because there are no rules and anyone can post a page on the Web, you will have to determine whether the web site is of value.
Go to Evaluating Web Sources for specific criteria used to analyze websites.
Evaluating Internet Health Information (National Library of Medicine)