Skill 3: Evaluating Search Results

Students evaluate information and its sources critically by:

• Determining the origin of the information
• Identifying the author and their qualifications
• Identifying validity, accuracy, and potential bias

Ideas for Effective Assignments

1. Ask students to find a scholarly article in a database on a topic appropriate to course content. Ask students to then locate other research publications by that same author and identify journals that publish research in that discipline or specific subject area.

    

2. Ask students to do an evaluative annotated bibliography on some aspect of the course content in preparation for a research paper. Each annotation should address author’s authority, the validity of the source, potential bias, and appropriateness for a research assignment.

    

3. Ask students to analyze the content, style, and audience of three journals in a given discipline.

    

4. Ask students to compare their search results using a general and a specialized database.

    

5. Ask students to search for a topic using articles on that topic from the years 1998-2002. Ask students to search for the same information using articles on that topic from the years 2003- to the present. Ask them to note how the information has changed, to note the increase or decrease in information on the topic, and to speculate on why things have changed in that topic area.

    

6. Ask students to read an editorial and find facts to support it.

    

7. Ask students to evaluate a series of web sites you’ve given them in terms of authority, accuracy, objectivity, and timeliness. Ask them to rank them in order of usefulness in completing a research assignment. For those sites found lacking, ask students to give a suggestion for more appropriate sites.