Information literacy

1. Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Department of Information Science
Name of a course : Information Literacy
Department offering : Information Sciences
Level : Two
Semester : Three
Academic Year : April-July 2023
Instructor : Gama Chrispin Limbani

2. Evaluation of Information
Resources

3. Introduction
• A large part of being information literate is the ability to critically evaluate
the information that one finds as a part of a research or academic
assignment.
• Both print and online sources should be evaluated, though the Web poses
some particular challenges simply because most information on the Web
does not undergo the same level of scrutiny as print information.
• One should be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Internet as a
research tool.
• Therefore, if one decides to use information especially from the Web for
research, he or she must learn to judge the information.

4. Evaluating information is done by examining
• Purpose
• Authority
• Authenticity
• Accuracy
• Audience
• Currency
• Scope
• Objectivity
• Ease of use

5. Purpose
• Determine the purpose or reason for the creation of the resource and the
information it bears. Find out if the purpose is to;
• Inform
• Explain
• Persuade
• Entertain
• Find out if the purpose is clearly stated and if at all the resource fulfills that
purpose?
• This can be achieved by reading the preface or about us of the material

6. Authority
• Determine who has provided the information and check if the author is
identified and qualified
• Determining if his or her credentials are given
• Determine if he/she is known to be an expert in the field
• Find out if there is a way given to contact the author
• A physical address and/or phone number is preferable
• Check whether the publishers are reputable and if there is any
organization backing the Web site and if the Web site is hosted by a
commercial organization, does the author appear to be affiliated with
it? Would this affiliation cause any bias?
• References also helps to determine the authority

7. Authenticity
• Establish the uniqueness of whether the source is one-of-a-kind and
that they are no other copies or Web sites with the same information
• Consider also where the information originates from, and if it has
been reviewed by others
• Establish the type of source, primary or secondary

8. Accuracy
• This addresses issues of correctness and factuality in information and
there is need to check against other sources to know for sure.
• Crosscheck all statistics used with their appropriate citation and the
bibliography of sources.
• If it is a research site, is the research methodology clearly explained, and
find out if it is appropriate to the topic and whether it can be duplicated
in order to be verified?

9. Audience
• Determines the target audience for the information whether it is aimed at a
• Specific group?
• Written at the level of an expert or a layperson
• The focus popular or scholarly/educational
Currency
• Information in a document or the web will be of value if it is current, and
considers issues like;
• Dates e.g. original publication
• Frequency of updates

10. Scope
• Consider whether the resource covers a lot of information and how well is
the subject represented by the Web site
• Breadth: find out if all aspects of the subject covered
• Depth: Is the subject covered in detail?
• Time: Is the information limited to certain time periods?
• Format: Does the site include audio, video, or graphics? Do these add to, or detract
from, the usefulness of the source? Does the coverage compare well to a print source
on the same topic?

11. Objectivity
• This checks that the information is full of facts and not mere opinions
and does not reflect bias by advancing a particular agenda.
• Consider also the elements of sponsorship on articles and their impact
on the information and note the URL or if at all the Website reside on the
Web server of an organization that has a stake in the issue at hand.
• If the subject is controversial, are all points of view given equal time?
• Does the author seem to be trying to persuade the reader in some way?

12. Ease of Use
• Websites should have features that provide advantages to users and among
others, they should be easy to navigate, searchable and easily accessed,
connect at a reasonable speed, information be organized in a logical manner
• A user must also questions like:
• Does a user need a password?
• Does a user have to download special software to use it?
• Is the information on the Web site available in other forms such as print or CDROM?
• Does it have a particular advantage over other similar sources?

13. Evaluating Particular Types
of Online Sources

14. Organizational Web Sites
• Organizational Web sites usually end in .org, and are the home pages
for non-profit type institutions and associations.
• Good organizational sites should at least have the basic factual
information about the group such as:
• Address, phone number, email contact, president or chair, and similar
information.
• It should also include information about the mission of the
organization

15. Subject-based Web Sites
• Subject-based Web sites are a collection of pages on a particular
subject. They can be any type of domain: .com, .edu., .gov, etc.
• References to other sources, especially print sources. All statistics and
other facts should be cited on the page.
• Presentation of the material: it should have a professional look with
few or no grammatical or spelling errors.

16. Electronic Journals and Magazines
• There are several types of electronic journals and magazines online.
Many print journals and magazines offer online versions, some are
free and some require a subscription to access the full text of the
articles.
• Evaluating electronic journal articles is really not much different from
evaluating print articles. It is just the format that is different.
• Look for
• Purpose
• Authority
• Currency

17. Multimedia Sources
• The Internet has become a popular place to get multimedia such as clip art,
video clips, audio, etc. for use in Web sites and presentations.
• The main thing to look at when evaluating images for one’s own use is
whether the images are copyrighted and are legal to use in one’s own project.
• There should be a copyright notice and/or a contact person that one can get
permission from to use the image.

18. Databases
• Online databases can include library catalogs, commercial periodical
databases accessed via the library, and free online databases.
• When evaluating databases, one should look for
• Descriptions of the contents of the database, to understand the subject area and types of
materials covered, how far back the files go, and how comprehensive it is.
• Check whether the database has full-text articles or merely abstracts.
• Consider the reputation of the database and the authority of the producer.
• The database should be very current, and there should be little time-lag between the
publication of materials and their appearance in the database.
• The ease of use and searchability of the database with simple keyword searches as well
as more complex Boolean searches