Evaluating Information

Teaching & Marketing Electronic Information Literacy Programs Donald A. Barclay Neal-Schuman Publishers ©2003

Evaluating InformationTomado de Teaching and Marketing Electronic Information

Programs, 2003 . Doanld A. Barclay

Shades of Gray


Evaluating Information

The average person is bombarded with information, much of it unreliable.

Evaluation requires both knowledge of information and critical-thinking abilities.

Possibly the most important skill a citizen of the Information Age can possess.


Scholarly Information

A highly credible type of information. Students often required to use scholarly

information for research papers and projects.

Knowing how to identify scholarly information is an important skill.


Author Holds advanced

degree in subject written about.

Often professors. Pairs or teams of

researchers often collaborate to write a single article, chapter, book, etc.

Author May be journalist,

professional writer, or amateur.

May have a lot of knowledge of subject written about—or next to none.

Scholarly Non Scholarly


Research Methods Writings based on

original research conducted by the author(s).

Conduct a literature review prior to research.

Ethically obligated to follow certain standards for impartial research.

Research Methods Non-scholarly authors

rarely conduct original research.

Research based on readings, interviews, etc.

Quality and impartiality of research entirely dependent on the author



Peer Review Panel of scholars

decides if information should be published.

Peer review may be blind.

Also known as “refereeing” or “refereed journal.”

Peer Review No peer review. Decision to publish

typically resides with editors.

On Web, in particular, decision to publish may reside with author alone.



Objectivity By and large, the

most objective type of information.

However, scholars are human:

Mistakes. Biases. Personal rivalries. Dishonesty.

Objectivity Objectivity is entirely

dependent on the author.

Can be objective, biased, or anywhere in between.



Audience Other scholars. Assumes readers

have a high level of knowledge.

Scholarly information may be unintelligible to the layperson.

Audience May be broad or

specialized. Time magazine—

seeks a broad audience.

Fly Fishing & Fly Tying—seeks a specialized (but non-scholarly) audience.



Important Formats Articles published in

peer-reviewed (aka “refereed”) scholarly journals

Scholarly books Books by a single

author. Books with chapters

by different scholars.

Important Formats Anything and

everything Magazines. Newspapers. Books. Comic books. Personal Web sites. Videos. Etc., etc.



Publishers Typically nonprofit,

but can be for profit. Often associated

with learned societies or universities.

Market publications to scholars and academic libraries.

Publishers Typically for profit,

but can be nonprofit. Commercial

potential of a publication is often, though not always, the most important consideration.



Rewards Promotion and

tenure. Respect of peers. Satisfaction of

contributing new knowledge.

Scholarly publications rarely earn much, if any, money for author.

Rewards Money. Prestige. Personal satisfaction.


Scholar reads journal article. Gets idea for conducting original research.

Scholar conducts a literature review.

Scholar forms a hypothesis, develops a research methodology, and conducts research.

Scholar writes up results of research as an article.

Scholar submits manuscript of article to editor of scholarly journal.

Editor sends copies of manuscript to peer reviewers.

Peer reviewers recommend publication upon revision.

Editor sends manuscript to scholar with peer reviewers’ anonymous comments.

Scholar revises manuscript and re-submits to editor.

Revised manuscript is accepted and (eventually) published in the journal.

The Scholarly PublicationProcess


Scholarly Journals Versus Popular Magazines

Scholarly journals and popular magazines have superficial resemblances.

Scholarly journals present research findings. Intended audience is scholars.

Magazines present news, information, opinion, and entertainment. Intended audience is general public.


Identifying Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals often have the word journal in the title. But Ladies Home Journal is a magazine.

Other common title phrases for journals include: proceedings of transactions of publication of bulletin of



If cover or title page indicates affiliation with a learned society or association, it is probably a scholarly journal.

Athletic Physical TherapyPublication of the Canadian Association of Sports

Physical Therapists



Scholarly journals focus on a single, often very narrow subject area.

Other than ads for scholarly books, most do not contain advertisements . There are exceptions. Example: Scholarly medical journals often

carry advertisements for prescription drugs.



As a rule, scholarly journals look very plain compared to popular magazines

Lots of text, not a lot of images, not a lot of color.

There are exceptions to this rule. Example: Scholarly art journals have many

color images.



Most articles in scholarly journals have footnotes and/or bibliographies. Scholarly authors always cite the sources

they use in their research. Most scholarly journals will have an

“Instruction to Authors” section. These give authors the procedure for

submitting manuscripts for publication. Instructions may not appear in every issue.


Is print information always more credible than Web Information?

No. You can find good and bad information in print just as you can on the Web.

Some Web information is the exact equivalent of print information. Example: A journal publishes an identical

article both in print and on its Web site. Some Web sites impose exacting quality-

control standards. Peer review, careful editing, fact checking.


Logical Fallacies

Arguments may sound reasonable but, on examination, are not.

Used to mislead readers and listeners. Information sources that employ logical

fallacies are worthy of suspicion. Examples of some of the more common

logical fallacies include . . .


Authority Fallacies

Findings based on a single authority. Citing anonymous authority or authorities.

“All the leading experts agree . . .” Citing an authority who is not really an

expert on the subject in question. Failing to acknowledge that there is a

significant amount of disagreement among equally qualified experts on the topic.


Fallacy: Findings Based on Anecdotal Evidence or Small Samples

A woman in Wisconsin ate strawberries and recovered from breast cancer.

If this is true, were strawberries the reason she recovered?

Will strawberries have the same effect on others?


Fallacy: Incomplete Information

A woman in Wisconsin ate strawberries and recovered from breast cancer. True. But she also underwent chemotherapy

and radiation treatments at the same time she was eating all those strawberries.


Fallacy: Selective Bibliography

I can cite two studies that show strawberries cure cancer. But I am not going to cite the seventy-five

studies that show strawberries have no effect at all.


Fallacy: Personal Attacks or Prejudicial Language

One of the biggest critics of strawberry therapy is Dr. Green, a “so-called expert” who has been censured for sexual harassment in the workplace. Dr. Green’s personal behavior, however

bad, has nothing to do with his criticism of strawberry therapy.

Labeling Dr. Green as a “so-called expert” without any support for this charge is prejudicial language.


Fallacy: Flat-Line Projections

If trends continue, every woman in the country will eventually fall victim to breast cancer. It is raining right now. If trends continue, it

will never stop raining. Flat-line projections are just one of many

ways to misrepresent statistical data. The more astounding the statistic, the more

skeptical you should be.


Fallacy: No Areas of Uncertainty

Strawberries cure breast cancer 100% of the time in 100% of patients. Nothing is that certain. Even when the percentage is lowered to

99.something, nothing is that certain.


Fallacy: False Dilemma

Either eat strawberries or die of cancer. False dilemmas present only two

options when their may be many: Eat strawberries and still die of

cancer. Don’t eat strawberries, get cancer,

and be cured by some other means. Get run over by an ice-cream truck

whether you eat strawberries or not.


Fallacy: Arguments from Ignorance

If science cannot prove that strawberries do not cure breast cancer, that proves they do. Failing to prove that Santa Claus does not

exist does not prove that he does. Failing to prove that UFOs are not real does

not prove that they are.


Fallacy: Faulty If/Then Reasoning

1. If you don’t eat strawberries, then your body will lack proper nutrients.

2. If you lack proper nutrients, then your immune system will be suppressed.

3. If your immune system is suppressed, then you are more susceptible to illness.

4. If you are susceptible to illness, then you are more likely to die of breast cancer.

Beware of slippery slopes created by chaining together if/then statements.


Casual Fallacies

As strawberry consumption has declined, breast-cancer rates have increased. Even if true, the fact that one thing

happened first is not proof that it caused the later thing.

Disco dancing became popular in the early 1970s, and so in 1978 the Yankees won their second consecutive World Series.


Other Casual Fallacies:

Complex-cause fallacy: Poor nutrition causes cancer. Nutrition is one of many things that are known

to contribute to cancer. The causes of cancer are complex, not simple.

Wrong-direction fallacy: Crime went up on 12th Street as gun ownership went up. In the case of 12th Street, crime went up first.

Gun ownership went up in response to crime.


Fallacy: Unrelated Points

If you believe that a proper diet is important to good health, then you must accept the fact that strawberries cure breast cancer. Such a statement makes it seem as if you

must accept both points if you accept either. In fact, you can accept one while rejecting the other.


Primary Versus Secondary Sources of Information

Primary information is an account or record of events in which the author was an actual participant or firsthand observer.

Secondary information is an account or record of events created some time after the events took place, typically by an author who was not a direct participant or observer.


Primary/Secondary Example

Primary: A group of cancer

researchers at UCLA Medical Center keep detailed records of a clinical trial they are conducting on a promising new cancer medicine.

Secondary: The Los Angeles

Times runs a news article telling how a group of cancer researchers at UCLA Medical Center are conducting a clinical trial of a new cancer medicine.


Letters. Diaries. A researcher’s

laboratory or field notes.

Collections of data. Government records. Speeches. Photographs.

Most periodical articles and books about past events.

Based on primary sources and secondary sources.

Textbooks and encyclopedias.

Anything one step removed from the events it describes.

Typical primary sources include:

Typical secondary sources include:


A Source May Be Both Primary And Secondary

A Los Angeles Times article about the 9/11/01 World Trade Center attacks is a secondary source for most purposes.

However, it is a primary source to a researcher studying media responses to the attacks.

Evaluating Information

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