OnRamps Rhetoric Research Guide

Use the criteria below to help you evaluate a source.  As you do, remember:

• Each criterion should be considered in the context of your topic or information need. For example, currency changes if you are working on a current event vs. a historical topic.
• Weigh all four criteria when making your decision. For example, the information may appear accurate, but if the authority is suspect you may want to find a more authoritative site for your information.
• When in doubt about a source, talk about it with your professor or a librarian.

Criteria to consider:

1. Currency: When was the information published or last updated? Is it current enough for your topic?
2. Relevance: Is this the type of information you need (ex. a research study or scholarly article)? Is it related to your topic? Is it detailed enough to help you answer questions on your topic?
3. Authority: Who is the author or creator of the information (can be an individual or an organization)? Are they an expert on your topic? Has the source been peer reviewed? Who is the publisher? Are they reputable?
4. Accuracy: Is the information true? What information does the author cite or refer to?  Is this a research study with methods you can follow? Can you find this information anywhere else? Can you find evidence to back it up from another resource? Are studies mentioned but not cited (this would be something to check on)? Can you locate those studies?
5. Purpose/perspective: What is the purpose of the information? Was it written to sell something or to convince you of something? Is this fact or opinion based? Is it unfairly biased?

Q: What do journalists and reporters do?

A: Journalism is a profession that is taught at universities. They are trained to gather, analyze and report information about current events to their audience. They are taught a professional code of ethics, including the principles of accuracy, independence, objectivity and fairness and respect for their subjects and audience.

• They may conduct interviews with those making decisions and those who are affected by those decisions.
• They may read a scholarly article and write about it for a non-expert audience who could be impacted.
• They may travel to locations, including war zones and scenes of violent unrest in order to offer an eyewitness account.
• They may investigate an issue through in depth interviews and analysis of troves of documents so as to bring the hidden to light.

Q: Sometimes I see quotations in an article that are obviously opinions. Does this mean I am reading a viewpoint source?

A: Make very sure that the viewpoints stated in an article are not coming from those whom the journalist is interviewing. Journalists interview stakeholders, typically on multiple sides of an issue, in order to show how people are impacted by a story.

Q: What role does a news source play in a democracy?

A: The news is essential to a functioning democracy because it speaks truth to power and holds those in power accountable to the public. Whether on a small town level, a national level or an international level, journalists provide a check on those in power who may be corrupt or who may obfuscate to deceive the public.

Q: Why do I hear that the news is biased, unfair or fake?

A: If you hear that a news source is biased, first ask yourself if the person calling the source biased has an agenda for calling into question a source's integrity.

Next, look into the source's author and audience. Is the writer a reporter/journalist, or is he a columnist or commentator? A columnist or commentator is not a journalist - it is someone who has a stated perspective and writes with that bias made apparent. They are employed by media sources in order to offer those opinions (this is what the Opinion / Editorial section of a news source is for). Some, but certainly not all, media sources choose to speak to a specific audience with shared values in order to attract subscribers or viewers and to keep advertisers.

Q: What do you mean by 'keep advertisers'?

A: The vast majority of our media is for profit. They rely on subscribers and advertising dollars. This is why many local news sources are in trouble - there are not enough subscribers to pay for a paper to function. The alternative is to be supported financially by the State - this would make holding those in power accountable tricky.

There are some news sources that are non-profit, but this is not an indication that they are not also keeping an audience in mind.

Q: I am overwhelmed by this - how can I know what to trust?

A: It is difficult. Use all of the critical thinking skills you have thus far learned in life in order to be a thoughtful, engaged and independent-minded citizen. Honing critical thinking skills is the most important work you can do.

Evaluating a scholar's work is challenging because we likely lack expertise in the research areas they are working in.

Therefore, it is most important to decide whether or not the source is relevant to our goals.

• Does the source provide evidence to support the claims I want to make?
• If applicable, is the population studied in the source relevant to the scope of my paper?
• Is the geography studied in the source relevant to the scope of my paper?
• Has something occurred in the area I am studying, such as an important event or technological change, that may make the source out of date for my paper?

This is a good moment to reach out to a teacher, classmate or friend to talk about the evidence you are using to support your claims. Is your evidence convincing? Research is isolating and it can help to talk it through with someone else, even if they are unfamiliar with your topic.