Overview

The entire point of doing research is to think about the information and to use it.

Much of what you have been learning in the Info Game is the mechanical part of research--how to locate material on your topic. But really the entire point of doing research is to think about the information and to use it. Most of what we will discuss in this round focuses on evaluating electronic sources, but these same things apply to any type of information, from scholarly publications and books to TV shows or talking to friends.

As we've said before, there are "public" and "private" portions of the World Wide Web.The public portions where almost anyone can place information need to be evaluated much more thoroughly than the sources that the library provides. There's great information in the public part of the web, but it's mixed in with the junk. In the private portions, editors, fact-checkers, and more reliable publishers are involved.

When you evaluate information, you mainly use your own knowledge and attitudes, but there are some common factors that anyone should think about.

If you only ask yourself one question when looking at information, ask yourself "Who wrote this?"

Ask yourself "Who wrote this?"

Other important factors include:

• Credibility
• Point-of-View or Bias
• Timeliness
• Accuracy