Source evaluation
From Science Online
Evaluating the sources that we use to write this website is one of the most imporant parts of being an author. To understand if a piece of scientific information is correct, we need to know where it comes from and why it was produced!
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What to Do
- If you click on a reference (at the bottom of the page, not in the text) (Hawking, 1996) you'll go to the reference evaluation page.
- When you get there, simply click "edit" at the top of the reference page to add or edit the resource evaluation.
- Remember to think for yourself! Someone else may have already written an evaluation, but make sure you agree with it. If you disagree, you might want to use the discussion page to talk about it before you change the evaluation.
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What to Look For
Remember that positive reviews for a good source are just as important as negative reviews for a bad one! Some things to think about when you evaulate a source include:
- Who wrote this resource and why?
Authorship is very important! Was the resource written by a scientist? By a government agency? By a politician? By someone working for a business that has an interest in the results?
- How new is this information?
Is it the kind of information that is quickly outdated? Some information doesn't change much over the years, but other information changes quickly with new discoveries.
- Where was this information published?
Does the information come from a peer-reviewed source? Is it a place where scientists would look for information?
- What are the methods?
If the resource describes an experiment, does it explain exactly what the scientists did? It's important in science to explain exactly how experiments are performed so that others can verify the results.
- Who funded this research
Sometimes you'll see that authors include information about who gave them money to do their work. This can be important because businesses and activist groups often give scientists money for research that could help their own product or ideals.
