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iRubric: Evaluating Sources rubric

iRubric: Evaluating Sources rubric

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Evaluating Sources 
Evaluating Sources
Rubric Code: X2XW742
By tiffch
Ready to use
Public Rubric
Subject: Education  
Type: Handout  
Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12, Undergraduate, Graduate, Post Graduate

Powered by iRubric Evaluating Information Sources
Questions to ask about the information source you are thinking of using
  Good

High quality, reliable.

2 pts

Fair

Medium quality and reliability, or has both good and bad aspects.

1 pts

Poor or Unknown

Low quality, unreliable.

0 pts

Timeliness/Currency
2 pts

How recent or up-to-date is its content? (and how important is that to you?)
Good

Information is as current as it can get. Less than 2 years old for sciences. Less than 5 years old for social sciences and humanities.
Fair

Information is older but hasn't been contradicted or substantially changed or added to since it was published. (This rarely happens in the sciences but is somewhat common in the social sciences and very common in the humanities.)
Poor or Unknown

Information is out of date. New information has either contradicted it, changed or added to it. Old-fashioned biases and bigotry.
Purpose
2 pts

What is the intended purpose? (Think educate/inform, sell something, entertain, change minds/behavior, even propaganda/hate speech)
Good

Purpose is to inform or educate.
Fair

Purpose is to entertain, sell you something or persuade you but no sketchy techniques are used, and information is provided that can be verified from external sources.
Poor or Unknown

Purpose is to entertain, sell you something, or persuade you and they have used sketchy techniques like deception, emotional manipulation, logical fallacies, weasel words, loaded language, etc. May try to look like an informational/educational purpose but is actually propaganda.
Audience
2 pts

Is the target audience appropriate for your use? (Think age group, educational level)
Good

Target audience is fellow experts, scholars and students in the subject area.
Fair

Target audience is non-experts.
Poor or Unknown

Target audience is children or a group of people who all share the same ideology.
Authority
2 pts

Who is the creator of the information source, and what kind of expertise and experience do they have?
Good

Creator has a strong educational in the subject from an accredited institution, publications on the subject in reputable journals or from reputable publishers, has a job working in the field at a reputable organization.
Fair

Creator may not have any academic or career background in the subject but has obviously educated themself thoroughly. May be an amateur expert or a student.
Poor or Unknown

Creator has no academic background in the subject and no work experience in the subject. Doesn't appear to have done their research either.
Type of publisher
2 pts

Is this a formal publisher with a reputation to uphold?
Good

Book publisher, newspaper, magazine, edu website31``
Fair

Information put out by an organization, but not a publisher. For example, a government agency, corporation, or non-profit organization.
Poor or Unknown

Self-published, vanity press, personal web site or blog
Accuracy
2 pts

Are the facts correct?
Good

Facts in the information source match what can be found in other information sources or by real world testing.
Fair

Some minor aspects may be called into question by other sources. The inconsistencies do not affect the usefulness of those facts for your research purposes.
Poor or Unknown

Lies and errors.



Keywords:
  • information literacy, evaluating sources, authority, reliability, info lit



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