Source Evaluation

A set of beliefs in favor of one side or the other

• Bias

• Evidence

• Fact

• Relevance

A witness gives firsthand evidence of what they saw or experienced

• Expert Testimony

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

• Statistics

Numerical data collected in a scientific study

• Bias

• Credentials

• Evidence

• Statistics

An author's training, experience, and education in a subject area

• Bias

• Credentials

• Currency

• Statistics

When a source is based in fact, reasonable, or well-argued

• Bias

• Opinion

• Relevant

• Valid

When a source is based in related to the topic at hand

• Bias

• Opinion

• Relevant

• Valid

A source written by experts and checked by other experts in the field

• Primary Source

• Current Source

• Scholarly Source

• Secondary Source

A news article written by a journalist to explain an event they did not witness personally

• Credentials

• Primary Source

• Scholarly Source

• Secondary Source

Up-to-date with the newest available information

• Biased

• Current

• Reliable

• Valid

You can evaluate this by clicking on the "About" section of an online source.

• Currency

• Content

• Audience

• Publisher