Information Searching Guide: Evaluating information

In research, source criticism is of paramount importance, whether the matter is information reliability, content or relevance. It is important to pay attention especially with internet material, because the publications are not reviewed or monitored by any external service. Electronic material acquired for university libraries (e-books, article and reference databases, dictionaries) are almost always quality materials that meet specific basic criteria, but that doesn't remove the students' own responsibility of evaluating the information critically.  

Additionally, it is good to remember that second-hand citing is not desirable - always try to acquire the original source of information (primary source) and avoid referencing another person's research via an article referencing said article (second-hand source). For example, do not reference an article found in a thesis by citing the thesis, but find the original article and use it as your source.

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Image: Jonne Renvall / Tampere University

Evaluating information sources can be tricky, especially when it comes to online sources. Here are some things to consider when you are looking for information online:

Author:

• Is the material produced by a known agency, organisation or expert?
• Does the creator have authority in the field or topic in question?
• Is the author known? For example, the articles in Wikipedia do not have a named author, and they are not suitable sources for academic study.

Validity

• Is the information thoroughly researched, objective and reliable?
• Have the sources been marked correctly? Is there a bibliography?
• Has it been peer-reviewed by an expert in the field?

Content

• Is the text content objective or subjective?
• Is the information factual or does it represent the author's personal opinion?
• Is the information unique, or can similar or more accurate information be found elsewhere?

Target audience

• Who is the information intended for?
• Does the information match your information need?

Source: Guide to information retrieval [WWW]. Espoo, Aalto University Library. [cited 14.7.2014]. Available: http://libguides.aalto.fi/informationretrieval

Here are some things to consider when you use books as source material.

Publisher: Who is the publisher?

• The Finnish Publication Forum classifies the book publishers (also journals, series, conferences)
• University Presses publish mainly scientic publications.

Author: What do you know about the author?

• Is the author a professor in highly valued university or what are the author’s credentials?
• Does the author have authority in the field or topic

Content: Does it contain bibliography and in-text references?

There are several types of articles in scientific journals. Usually peer reviewed are original research articles and review articles.

• Scientific articles, also called original articles, are often research articles. Research articles usually follow the IMRD format, which is used in research reports.

o Introduction
o Materials and methods
o Results
o Discussion

• Review articles provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic as well as a perspective on the state of the field and where it is heading. The research articles included in the review are evaluated and analyzed carefully.

Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed, which means that they are independently reviewed and evaluated by two or more experts within the field. These experts make a recommendation to the journal editor on acceptance or rejection. Some content of the scientific journals (such as letters, editorials, commentaries, book reviews etc.) may not be peer-reviewed.

See tips for reading scientific articles in "How to Read an Academic Article" (Klein, P. 2010.)

Periodical is a term used to describe any publication that is published multiple times (periodically). Periodicals include materials such as popular magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers.

It is important to understand the difference between a popular and a scholarly periodical. When you are doing research, most of your sources should be scholarly.

Often popular periodicals are called magazines and scholarly periodicals are called journals. Many times it will be acceptable to use some popular material, but research papers should not be based solely on popular literature.

Explore this visual aid describing the key elements of an academic journal article: Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Source: "Scholarly vs. Popular Materials" by Amy VanScoy, NCSU Library and "Scholarly, Popular and Trade Journals" by Jason Puckett & Lyn Thaxton at GSU.

*Peer-review: the article (data, method, conclusions, references,etc.) is evaluated by one or more specialist in the field before it is accepted for publication.

Publication Forum (in Finnish often referred to as JUFO) evaluates Finnish and foreign academic publication channels. Publication Forum operates under the auspices of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV). The three-level classification rates the major foreign and Finnish publication channels of all disciplines.

Publication Forum ratings

• disseminate information on the impact and prestige of the scientific publication channels
• handle humanities and social sciences more equally than citation analyses
• are meant to evaluate large publication volumes only, not suited for the evaluation of the merits of an individual researcher
• are updated regularly
• the review of ratings is done once every four years by 23 field specific panels

Publication Forum classification is used as a quality indicator of the research output produced by universities within the university funding model established by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Among the appropriation criteria, scientific and other publications account for 14 per cent of the basic funding to universities.
Source: Publication Forum