Evaluating information

Critically appraise information and identify relevant, reliable and authoritative sources.

Go to: Knowing which information to trust | Evaluating academic information | Evaluating information on the web

No information is entirely neutral. To use it effectively you need to know the context in which it was produced.

Not all information is equally reliable. You need to identify and use the most authoritative sources.

Remember that your responses to information are not neutral either – your own attitudes, beliefs, and experience will affect how you receive it.

Knowing which information to trust

Critical evaluation can be approached through a series of questions:

Who wrote the information?
Where was it published?
When was it written?
Why was it written?
Who was it written for?

These questions will vary depending on the type of information you are looking at. More detailed lists appear in the resources linked below. You should also be alert to things like poor spelling and grammar, or obvious factual errors. Can the author be trusted to give accurate information?

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Evaluating academic information

Critical appraisal techniques allow you to assess the trustworthiness and relevance of academic information, by considering context, research methodology, and potential bias. The resources below will take you through the process of critical evaluation (or critical appraisal) for your subject area:

Explore our interactive resources for this topic

Arts

Social sciences

STEM

Reading critically

It is equally important to take a critical approach to content and methodology when you are reading and interpreting information. The following resource provides advice and examples to help with this:

Study resource: Reading critically

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