Evaluating information: knowing what to trust

Bob discovers that not everything he finds online is necessarily accurate, up to date or relevant. The animation introduces how Library Services can help you learn about evaluating what you find online. To find out more about Library training visit the online training page.

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.