iRubric: Evaluating Information Sources rubric

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Evaluating Information Sources

Evaluating OER

Questions to ask about the information source you're thinking of using.

Rubric Code: YA55B8

By sarahmorehouse

Ready to use

Public Rubric

Subject: Education

Type: Handout

Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12, Undergraduate, Graduate, Post Graduate

Evaluating Information Sources Questions to ask about the information source you are thinking of using
	Poor or Unknown Low quality, unreliable. 0 pts	Fair Medium quality and reliability, or has both good and bad aspects. 1 pts	Good High quality, reliable. 2 pts
Relevance 2 pts Does the resource address your topic from the appropriate discipline or other perspective?	Poor or Unknown Irrelevant.	Fair Tangential.	Good On topic.
Information Quality 2 pts How would you rate the quality of the information? (factual correctness, methodology, logic, etc.)	Poor or Unknown Factual errors, gaps in the argument. Obviously poor research methodology. Failure to mention an important fact.	Fair There are some doubts about the methodology, but they are not too concerning. Overall, the facts and logical argument are good. Nothing important is left out.	Good Facts, logical argument and research methodology are all good. Nothing important is left out.
Timeliness/Currency 2 pts How recent or up-to-date is its content? (and how important is that to you?)	Poor or Unknown Information is out of date. New information has either contradicted it, changed or added to it. Old-fashioned biases and bigotry.	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.)	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.
Purpose 2 pts What is the intended purpose? (Think educate/inform, sell something, entertain, change minds/behavior, even propaganda/hate speech)	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.	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.	Good Purpose is to inform or educate.
Audience 2 pts Is the target audience appropriate for your use? (Think age group, educational level)	Poor or Unknown Target audience is children or a group of people who all share the same ideology.	Fair Target audience is non-experts.	Good Target audience is fellow experts, scholars and students in the subject area.
Authority 2 pts Who is the creator of the information source, and what kind of expertise and experience do they have?	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.	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.	Good Creator has a PhD 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.
Quality Control and Gatekeeping 2 pts Does the "hosting" organization conduct any sort of quality control? If so, what kind and how rigorous?	Poor or Unknown No quality control. Obvious errors. False or fraudulent peer review. No gatekeeping or filtration of low quality content.	Fair Proof readers, fact checkers. High quality non-scholarly book publishers, news papers, and periodicals. Gray literature archived in scholarly repositories. News and media outlets with a good reputation. Web sites created by organizations with a reputation for high quality information and freedom from bias.	Good Peer review or editorial review. Either a university press or a scholarly journal. Also peer reviewed research archived in scholarly repositories.
Bias of Publisher 2 pts What is the "hosting" organization's reputation for bias and agenda?	Poor or Unknown An organization that is based in an extreme ideology such as racism, Maoism, certain types of religion, Flat Earth, etc.	Fair An organization that is based in a more moderate ideology but also addresses other views in a balanced way. Major think tanks, non-profit organizations and news outlets often fall into this category.	Good An organization devoted to objectivity and/or neutrality.
Bias of Sponsors 2 pts Are there any other "sponsors"? What is their reputation for bias and agenda?	Poor or Unknown Financial conflict of interest. Money and financial support come with strings attached - the research outcomes and how they are presented are affected.	Fair Money and other kinds of support are given, but all potential financial conflicts of interest are disclosed. There are safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the research and how it is presented.	Good There is no way for money and support to influence the research outcomes or how they are presented.
Reviews 2 pts Are there ratings, reviews, or comments? If so, what can you learn from them?	Poor or Unknown Overall poor reviews, ratings or comments.	Fair Mixed reviews, ratings, or comments.	Good Overall great reviews, ratings, or comments.

Keywords:

information literacy, evaluating sources, authority, reliability, info lit

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