Evaluating information: knowing what to trust

I was searching for information for my assignment on animal psychology. I started by typing men and cats into a search engine. I found a research paper online called “Feline Reactions to Bearded Men’

It seemed just right for my assignment but I’d learnt at a recent library training session that I should check how genuine it was.

I decided to look more closely to find out who had done the research and why and where it was published.

I started to have doubts, the article references included research by a well known 80’s pop star, a famous children’s author and a mini-skirt fashion designer from the 60’s?

I looked again at the website where I’d found the article and discovered the aim of the site was to make people laugh whilst thinking about what information can be trusted.

I really wasn’t sure now that I could trust this research myself so I carried on searching instead.

Thank goodness I’d remembered to check who, why, where before deciding to use this article for my assignment.

Phew!

Summary: Remember to think about ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘where’ before trusting what you read online.

To learn more about how to find trustworthy information visit: Finding resources for your assignment: Evaluating what you find

Library Services: helping you to know what you can trust.