Presentation Report

Content type

User Generated

Subject

Electrical Engineering

School

Central Michigan University

Type

Homework

Uploaded By

Znqvanovyn099

Pages

Rating

Evaluation of Sources of Information

There are lot of sources from where we can get the information that we want. Just because the

website or article matches your search criteria, you can’t necessarily say that it’s reliable source of

information. Not all the sources you access through google search are appropriate enough to be

added to your report or paper. If you add information of any source without investigating its

validity, you might include false information too. So, you need to analyze and evaluate these

information source. Evaluating the information helps you to think critically about the reliability,

validity, accuracy, point of view or biasness of the information source The Internet are often an

excellent resource for gathering information, problems arise when people cannot differentiate

between reliable and unreliable sources. We collect information for the paper from a variety of

outlets, including books, journal articles, magazine articles, specialized databases, and websites. It

is important to know about the reliability of the data we achieve. Objectivity or bias, authority and

credibility, accuracy and reliability, currency and timeliness, and intent and intended audience are

all common assessment criteria.

One should identify the source of information and determine whether it is reliable and credible.

The name of the writer and organization who published the information is to be identified properly.

The writer should be well qualified to write on the subject matter. Another important way to

evaluate the source is by checking the provided information against other reliable sources to verify

accuracy. The reliable and trusted source might be academic articles and books. While reading an

article, one should also determine if that information has specific agenda or goal in mind. It is very

essential to check whether the author has particular religious, sociological or political bent. These

factors also determine the validity of an information source [1]. There are different methods for

evaluating different type of sources. Some of the methods are the checklist approach, classical peer

review, modified peer review, evaluation based on examining the coverage of controversial views,

evidence-based evaluation, comparative studies, author credentials, publisher reputation, journal

impact factor, sponsoring: tracing the influence of economic, political, and ideological interests,

book reviews and book reviewing [2], [3].

The peer review process is a method by which journals carefully assess and preserve the quality

of the material they publish by inviting various experts to evaluate and review the article and decide

if it is suitable for publication. The experts examine the article by considering the originality of it,

the relevance to the field and the article’s appropriateness for the journal [4]. Peer review is critical

for maintaining the quality standards of journals and supporting the researchers who wrote them.

Authors may be alerted to any flaws in their work or holes in the literature that they may have

missed by review.

Wikipedia is a “free, collaboratively edited, multilingual internet encyclopedia sponsored by the

non-profit Wikimedia Foundation,” according to its website. Wikipedia is not considered a

credible source. This is particularly true given that anyone can edit the information provided at

any time, and although most errors are corrected right away, some errors go unnoticed. The quality

of the data found in the Wikipedia has been debated since origin. Wikipedia as a reference source

for tutorial information is threefold. To begin with, there is a theoretical concern that someone

with internet access might change Wikipedia. This raises questions on the spread of unintentional

misinformation, which is fuelled by acts of intentional vandalism that have gained media attention

and have challenged the public’s perception of Wikipedia [5], [6], [7].

Wikipedia is a widely renowned site for extracting information. Wikipedia and other moderated

pages are said to meet the criteria for being considered peer reviewed. In a real-world peer review

process, experts review the work of others. However, the vast majority of Wikipedia volunteers

and editors lack experience in the topic at hand.

The popular news magazines may not be so considered as a credible source of information as there

is no peer review, and few citations. a credible source is one that is unbiased and is backed up with

evidence. The other reason of not considering it as a reliable source are: generally, no bibliography,

references, or citations, written for a general audience at an easy reading level, jargon and overly

technical terms are avoided, shorter articles, lots of advertisements, lots of graphics, no formal

review process, though may be fact-checked and author and editor credentials and affiliations not

required. Popular magazines might not be considered as a really credible source type because

there's no referee, and there are only a few citations.

Any pattern or deviation from fact in data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and publication

that could lead to false conclusions is referred to as bias. Bias can occur either intentionally or

unintentionally. Bias can be during pre-trial bias, during trial and after trial. Suppose the analysis

is to be done to find the average height of people in a county. For this, the total exact process will

be time-consuming and almost impossible. So, the idea is to select a sample of people living in

different state. On doing so, if the sample doesn’t include all the possible population, the final

result may be towards opposite direction with the actual conclusion. So, this can be taken as a bias.

The two major types of bias are:

i) Selection Bias

ii) Information Bias

Randomness and systemic (bias) error may have an effect on the characteristics of a clinical study's

internal validity, or the ability to generate valid results. Random error is due to chance and can be

minimized by increasing the sample size or by decreasing the variation in measurements (reducing

measurement error) [8]. Factor affecting the study participation can be considered as selection bias

whereas the error from systematic distortions when collecting information about exposures and

diseases are considered as information bias.

There may be distorted results and may lead to wrong conclusion if there is a bias in research. It

may lead to unnecessary costs, wrong clinical practice and eventually may cause some sort of harm

to the patient. So, all the stakeholders should be responsible in the scientific publication so as to

ensure the validity and only the unbiased research conducted in a highly professional and

competent manner is published. [9].

Considering all these factors, certain test can be done for the reliability of the source (CRAAP

Test). The CRAAP test can be well understood as:

i) Currency: the information’s timeliness

ii) Relevance: the importance of the information of your needs

iii) Authority: the source from which the information is extracted

iv) Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content of the information

and

End of Preview - Want to read all 5 pages?

Access Now

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Evaluation of Sources of Information There are lot of sources from where we can get the information that we want. Just because the website or article matches your search criteria, you can’t necessarily say that it’s reliable source of information. Not all the sources you access through google search are appropriate enough to be added to your report or paper. If you add information of any source without investigating its validity, you might include false information too. So, you need to analyze and evaluate these information source. Evaluating the information helps you to think critically about the reliability, validity, accuracy, point of view or biasness of the information source The Internet are often an excellent resource for gathering information, problems arise when people cannot differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources. We collect information for the paper from a variety of outlets, including books, journal articles, magazine articles, specialized databases, and websites. It is important to know about the reliability of the data we achieve. Objectivity or bias, authority and credibility, accuracy and reliability, currency and timeliness, and intent and intended audience are all common assessment criteria. One should identify the source of information and determine whether it is reliable and credible. The name of the writer and organization who published the information is to be identified properly. The writer should be well qualified to write on the sub ...
Purchase document to see full attachment

Tags: sources of information reliable source of information Search Criteria point of view reliable and unreliable sources