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Lansing Community College Library

Science: Evaluation

In this guide you will find credible, reliable sources for a range of science disciplines.

Sort Fact vs. Fiction with Lateral Reading

Lateral reading helps uncover information about an organization, website, author, or publication. It's a simple technique, just open a new tab in your browser and use a search engine (like Google) to uncover outside information. It helps answer a fundamental question: Who's behind the information?

How to Use the SIFT Method

                 Circle divided into four steps of the SIFT method. Stop, Investigate the source, find better coverage, Trace claims to the original context

When you find a website that you are interested in reading or using as a source for your assignment, before you start reading anything STOP and consider these questions:

  1. What do you know about this website and the people or group responsible for the content? Do you trust them?
  2. What do you know about the reputation of the website and the claims it is making?

Don't share or post until you have more information about the website.

As you investigate you may need to revisit this step and decide if you should spend more time investigating the website or move on from the website and how much time and depth should you dedicate to this information.

Use your Google skills to investigate a source of information. This investigation is not an in-depth dive into the history of an author or organization, but is designed to give you a general idea of what something is about. 

When you land on a website you are unsure about open a new tab in your browser and Google them.

  1. Find out what other people are saying about that website, author, or organization. 
  2. Scan your results and look for news articles from well known news organizations and fact checking websites. 
  3. Check out their Wikipedia page to learn more about authors, publications, organizations, and websites.

 Don't blindly trust the "About Us" pages on a website. Remember, they will only tell you the good stuff and they will avoid anything negative.

Sometimes when you investigate the source you'll find that the source is sufficient for your needs and you can continue with your reading of the source and integration into your assignment. 

 If you can't determine the reliability of a source you will need to find a trusted and credible source to get accurate information on the subject.

"Trusted" sources should have: 

  1. A track record of accurate reporting
  2. A reputation for minimizing bias in reporting

The Media Bias Chart can help you recognize publications that may present more biased information. 

Most stuff you see on the web is not original reporting or research.  In most cases, the more a story circulates by re-reporting and reposting, the more distorted and warped it becomes. It is often stripped of its context, which can distort the meaning.

Tracing a image, claims, quotes, and other media back to the original source can help you ensure the information is being accurately presented.

Types of Sources

You will find many different types of sources in your research. This video explains the information cycle or how sources appear after a newsworthy event.

What is Peer Review?

CRAAP Test - Evaluation Criteria

Evaluate your information using the CRAAP test. Based on what you discover, go back, brainstorm, and do more research.

Currency
How new (or old) is the information? 
Is the information out of date for your topic?
Relevance
Does the information address your topic, thesis and supporting arguments? 
Is it at an appropriate level (i.e not too elementary or too advanced?)
Authority
Who wrote the information? Individual or institution? Are they credible?
Are the author's credentials or qualifications given?
Is there author's contact information?
Accuracy
Is the information consistent with other sources? 
Does the information seem biased?
Are there spelling or grammar mistakes?
Purpose
Why was the information created? To persuade? To educate? To sell something?
Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions clear?
Are there political, cultural, institutional or personal biases and opinions?