3.3 Evaluate your resources

Some information sources are more complete and useful for academic purposes than others.

All information warrants evaluation according to the following criteria:

• reliability of the source (will the source be acceptable?)
• validity (is the source logical and complete?)
• accuracy (have they checked their facts?)
• authority of the author (who wrote this publication?)
• timeliness (how old is it and does that matter?)
• point of view (is this publication biased in some way?)