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Teamwork and Collaboration: Evaluate Sources
Try Lateral Reading to Evaluate Websites
- Lateral Reading Video
Lateral Reading is a great first step to take when you are trying to evaluate a website. Is the website accurate? Is it a biased source? Try lateral reading!
Video from the University of Louisville Libraries Citizen Literacy Series.
Creative Commons License CC by NC 4.0
Citizen Literacy was created by Robert Detmering, Amber Willenborg, and Terri Holtze for University of Louisville Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
What kind of journal is this?
When researching, you will come across a variety of different types of journals. Most journals and magazines fall into one of the following three categories: scholarly, popular, and trade publications. This table will show you how to find out how to tell the difference between these types of journals.
| Scholarly Journals | Popular Journals | Trade Journals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Informs/reports on original research done by scholars and experts in the field. | Entertains and informs a general audience without providing in-depth analysis. | Reports on industry trends, new products or techniques useful to people in a trade or business. |
| Authors | Articles are written by subject specialists and experts in the field. | Articles are written by journalists, freelance writers, or an editorial staff. | Articles are written by specialists in a certain field or industry. |
| Audience | Intended for a limited audience - mainly researchers, scholars, and experts. | Appeals to a broad segment of the population. | Intended for people in a particular profession, business, or industry. |
| Appearance | Simple cover design, few images or ads. May include charts, graphs, data. | Glossy, colorful, many images and lots of advertising. | Often glossy paper; images/advertisements relate to specific field or profession. |
| Article length | Tend to be lengthy, may include original research, in-depth analysis, very specific focus. | Typically brief, from less than 1 page to several pages. | Short to medium length articles. |
| Content | Original research, literary criticism and theory, literature review, in-depth analysis of topic. | Short, feature-length articles, news and general interest topics. | Articles about professional trends, new products or techniques, industry-related news. |
| Writing style | Use terminology, language and jargon relevant to the discipline. | Simple language used, written for general public. | Technical, field-specific language used, assumes reader familiar with industry. |
| References | Articles typically include references, notes, works cited. | Articles typically do not have references. | Articles sometimes have references. |
| Examples |
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Evaluating Popular Media
Media saturates our lives and constructs a reality for us. How can you make sure you reflect on both the message and the messenger? These links can help provide perspective.
- The Center for Media Literacy's 5 Core ConceptsSome great questions to ask yourself when you're evaluating a media source.
- Fairness and Accuracy in ReportingIs media bias more structural than political?
- Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in JournalismA site focusing on journalism as an industry, looking at trends in its business and reporting.
- Canons of JournalismThe way journalism is supposed to work.
Evaluating Web Resources - General
If you would like to suggest changes to these lists, please leave a comment below.
- Evaluating Internet Information (Virginia Tech)Criteria for sorting out good and bad information, along with examples.
- Evaluating Online Information--Fact or Fiction?From Learn the Net: The Internet Owner's Manual
- Evaluating Web Content (State University of New York - Albany)"This guide offers tips for evaluating the quality of content on the Web."
- Evaluating Webpages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask (U.C. Berkeley Library)Lists a series of questions to ask yourself about the website you are evaluating with implications for the answers to those questions.
- Thinking Critically about Web 2.0 and Beyond (UCLA Library)"specific points regarding social networking and other sites that offer user-initiated options"
- Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources (UCLA Library)Points to consider in evaluating WWW sites.
Subjects: Business, Management
- Last Updated: Nov 14, 2024 12:38 PM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/bus_team
