Any source of information can be evaluated, whether it is a scholarly article or an Instagram post.
Learning how to evaluate a source will help you create better work, write better papers, and be a better friend. When you take a step back and consider the source, you may realize that the information is out of date or is a hoax. It might even help you from embarrassing yourself on social media.
Whenever you consume information, you make unconscious judgments about its credibility and accuracy. Use information literacy to sharpen your skills in evaluating information.
Basic questions to ask yourself:
Most of the answers to these questions are subconscious judgments.
Writing out why you chose to use a specific source will help you recognize your own biases and limitations as well as help you improve your information literacy skills. With Annotations done The Otis Way, you make explicit the reasoning of your choices, how much you trust a source, and why.
Information Literacy will help you look at how the information is created, packaged, transmitted, and then put itl into context.
Citation = Information on where to find the source
Annotation = Explanation for why you are using the source
The pages in this guide match the requirements for writing evaluative annotations.
They reflect the core concepts of the Frameworks for Information Literacy. All of these criteria are interconnected, It can be difficult to determine the type of source because it overlaps with the credibility and the purpose / point of view.
There is also a page with sample annotations of different types of sources.
Criteria for Evaluating Information contains all of the key points covered above on one page, plus additional criteria.
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