Obtaining new information is always necessary for the enhancement of your knowledge. However, it is also equally important that the source of any information is factual and accurate so that any new knowledge you may have acquired would be credible. “[A] good reference source is one that answers questions and a poor reference source is one that fails to answer questions. Constant use in practice will help in identifying any source, (whether a book or a database) with one of these two categories” (Katz, 2002, p. 26)
When evaluating a reference source, the following criteria should first be established: Authority, Currency, Audience, Accuracy, and Accessibility (Institute for Museum and Library Services, Course 10). Authority refers to the author of the reference source as well as its editors and contributors and th
...eir respective credentials and reputation. Currency, on the other hand, refers to date of publication, edition or version of the reference source. It is necessary to check whether or not the source is the most recent version and if it contains the latest words, terms, and other new information.
Audience, meanwhile, refers to the target group of people of the reference source. The source should be clear about which audience it is appropriate for. Accuracy is the consistency and the cohesiveness of the ideas. All information in the source should support and not contradict on another. Finally, Accessibility refers to the how easy and how well can the source provide you with reliable information. Likewise, the same criteria mentioned above should be applied when evaluating a book or an article and at least four questions must be answered. First, is th
author credible and reputable?
Second, does the book or article contain the most recent and most consistent information such as the latest statistics, words, or figures? Third does the book explicitly mention who is it for? Finally, does it provide reliable and accurate information that can be easily accessed by readers? If all these questions are completely answered, you can safely determine whether or not a certain reference source is reliable and appropriate for reading. Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. Alternative Basic Library Education Course 10: Evaluating Reference Sources.
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