Evaluating for credible, authoritative, reliable sources: Relevancy
"R" is for relevancy
Relevancy refers to the appropriateness of the source for your needs.
Common pitfalls
The source that I found meets my requirements for authority, accuracy, bias and currency. This means that it's a perfect match for my information needs!
Hold on one minute. There's one more step to take before you can use your source. Even if the source passes your other areas of evaluation, if it is not relevant to your information needs, then it's not appropriate to use.
Additional sources
These open access materials go more in-depth into related issues, strategies, and importance of evaluating information and resources.
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"Evaluate: Assessing Your Research Process and Findings"This chapter was published in The Information Literacy User’s Guide: An Open, Online Textbook by Allison Hosier, et al, SUNY Albany, 2014. It includes sections on Distinguishing Between Information Resources, Choosing Materials, Identifying Key Points and Arguments, and Evaluating Resources in Practice.
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Chapter 06 - Web LiteracyThis chapter was published in The Research Process: Strategies for Undergraduate Students by Rebecca M. Marrall and Jenny K. Oleen, Western Washington University Libraries, 2016. In this chapter, you will be able to: Identify the concepts of web literacy; learn about Google and Wikipedia as research tools; and explore the Digital Divide phenomenon.
Questions to ask about the relevancy of a source
Ask yourself these questions when thinking about if a source is relevant or not:
- Is the information you found related to and useful for your topic and assignment?
- Is the source the appropriate type for your needs? For example, do you need a book or a scholarly journal article? Do you need primary or secondary sources of information?
- Is the information too broad or too specific?
Remember the context!
Sometimes it's very important to evaluate a source's relevancy to your information needs.
For example, if you are required to use primary documents in a research paper about colonial America, it's important to find primary documents about colonial America as opposed to secondary documents about World War II.
Other times, it's not as important to evaluate a source's relevancy.
For example, if you want to find general information about your favorite reality TV star, you don't have to worry so much about the type of source you use or the scope of the information.
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