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*Get Started with Research*

Easy to follow guide on essential steps of the research process: Choosing and refining a topic, creating effective search strategies, finding books and articles, evaluating information and more!

Tips for Evaluating Sources

How are you supposed to find the trustworthy sources when you can't automatically accept the information you are retrieving as credible, accurate, or unbiased?  While  you may not be a subject expert in the area you are researching, there are a number of basic things to look for that can help you evaluate the credibility of your information sources.  After finding a source that is relevant to your topic, it's time to begin your detective work.  The criteria of the TRAAPS test will help you to decide whether your sources are credible. 

Timeliness: Does your research topic require current information? When was the content produced/written/posted? Has it been revised or updated?

Relevance: Is the info relevant to your topic or answer your question? Does it add anything to what you already have or is it more of the same?

Authority: Who is the author/publisher/source? Are there any connections/credentials that make this group or person an expert … or possibly biased?  *Practice Lateral Reading

Accuracy: Does the information appear to be accurate? Is it supported by evidence clearly marked with citations/references?

Purpose: Why was the information published (who is the intended audience)? What opinions, if any, are expressed? Is the source trying to sell you something: a product, a service, even an idea? Is there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal bias?

Self-bias: Identify your own emotions, opinions and experience surrounding a topic. How might your “self-bias” influence your evaluation of a source?

*Practice Lateral Reading: To fully evaluate a source/publisher/author, open a new tab and search the source on the internet. Take into account what others are saying about the author, organization, and information.

 

Source: Central Connecticut State University Elihu Burritt Library Guide to Evaluating Sources

 

 

 

Evaluating Sources from Generative AI

Your professor will specify whether they will allow the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in their course assignments. However, with tools like CoPilot and Google's AI Overviews becoming more ubiquitous in general web searching, it's critical to know how to construct effective prompts AND to evaluate the sources provided by a chatbot.

Construct Effective Prompts

To ensure that bots using ChatGPT include the web sources analyzed to generate a response, a user should construct a clear and specific prompt. Here are some tips on how to do this effectively:

  1. Explicitly Request Sources: Clearly state that you want the response to include the sources.
  2. Specify the Type of Sources: Indicate if you prefer certain types of sources (e.g., academic journals, official websites, news articles).
  3. Mention Format: Specify how you would like the sources to be cited (e.g., in-text citations, footnotes, links).

Example Prompts for Chatbots

General Request for Sources:

  1. Provide information on the impacts of climate change and include the web sources you consulted in your response.

Specific Types of Sources:

  1. Explain the benefits of renewable energy. Include information from academic journals and official government websites, and provide the links to these sources in your response.

Specific Format for Citations:

  1. What are the latest advancements in AI technology? Please include the web sources you used, with citations in the format of [1] for each source.

Combining All Elements:

  1. Provide a detailed overview of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Use only reputable news sources, academic papers, and official reports. Include all sources you consulted in MLA format at the end of your response.

 

Evaluate Sources and Fact-check Claims

In general, there are fact-checking websites, such as Snopes, Politifact, and Factcheck.org, to name a few, but you should also use web evaluation techniques such as lateral reading to see what other sources are saying about a specific source. The SIFT method is an effective strategy developed by digital literacy expert, Mike Caulfield, to aid in evaluating claims found in online media. This page from the University of Chicago Library outlines the SIFT method: https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/c.php?g=1241077&p=9082322

Occasionally ChatGPT makes up citations that don't exist. It might give you articles by an author who often writes about your topic, or identify a journal that publishes on your topic, but the title, page numbers, and dates are completely fictional. Remember, it is your responsibility to fact-check chatbot responses and sources. 

For a good, overall resource on using ChatGPT effectively and ethically, see this guide from the University of Arizona Libraries: https://libguides.library.arizona.edu/students-chatgpt/use