Information Analysis

Information analysis is an important part of research; it’s also a critical thinking skill.  When you research, you’ll need to evaluate the information you find, in order to make sure that it’s from an appropriate source. The two main questions you should ask yourself when evaluating source information are:

  1. Is this source suitable?
  2. Is this source trustworthy?

Suitable sources:

  • contain facts/opinions/illustrations/data that support and directly relate to your focus
  • clearly explain their information
  • were written by a well known authority or expert
  • carefully cite the sources they used

Unsuitable sources:

  • are not related, or are only tangentially related, to your focus
  • may be too narrow or too broad in coverage of your topic; may be very general and not from a scholarly journal or peer-reviewed source
  • are out of date; do not reflect current viewpoints in the field, if currency is important to your focus
  • do not cite the sources they used

Trustworthy sources:

  • are current
  • are written by experts in the field
  • are accurate and attempt to offer information in an unbiased way

Untrustworthy sources:

  • may contain outdated and/or inaccurate information
  • have unknown authors (as with some websites) or authors who are not knowledgeable in the field in which they are writing
  • try to persuade by relying on bias, emotion, or tactics other than logic

View the following video, which clearly identifies a variety of questions to ask in order to evaluate sources.

The last items in the lists for trustworthiness, dealing with how information is presented (accuracy, bias), are important when analyzing information.  Does the information contain any factual errors?  Does the information try to persuade by appealing to the reader’s emotions instead of logic?  Does the information try to persuade by saying things such as “every rational person agrees” and thus implying that if you do not agree, you’re not a “rational person?” These strategies are logical errors.  You need to make sure that the information you’re using is free of the main types of logical errors:

  1. errors relating to credibility, which may unfairly build up the credibility of the author (or his allies) or unfairly attack the credibility of the author’s opponent (or her allies)
  2. errors relating to emphasis, which may give an unfair advantage to the claims of the speaker or writer, or an unfair disadvantage to his opponent’s claims
  3. errors relating to emotion, which rely excessively upon emotional appeals, attaching positive associations to the author’s argument and negative ones to her opponent’s position

initial learning activity

Research 4 different types of sources related to the topic of adult learners:

  1. a general online encyclopedia, such as Wikipedia
  2. a website sponsored by a professional organization
  3. an article in a general interest magazine
  4. an article in a scholarly journal

Analyze the type of information in each source for suitability, trustworthiness, and logic/logical errors.

Submit:

  • a list of your 4 sources, with their web addresses and/or citation information
  • your analysis of each source
  • a brief discussion of how you might — or why you might not — use each of these sources if you were writing a research paper

in-depth learning activity

Read the article “Eating Meat for the Environment,” by Lisa Hamilton.  Analyze the information in this article in terms of suitability, trustworthiness, and logic/logical errors.  Note that this article was written as a general interest piece, not as a scholarly one.

Then explain what would need to be 1) addressed and 2) added if the author wanted to turn this into a suitable, trustworthy, logical article for a scholarly journal. (2-3 pages)

In addition to your explanation, create an example of what would be needed, as though you were the author and were revising this piece, for half of the items you identified as needing to be addressed and added. (2-3 pages)

Submit:

  • explanation of what would be needed to turn this into an article for a scholarly journal
  • example addressing half of the items needed

Related college Learning Goals

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Evaluate, analyze, synthesize and critique key concepts and experiences, and apply diverse perspectives to find creative solutions to problems concerning human behavior, society and the natural world.

Information and Digital Media Literacy: Critically access, evaluate, understand, create and share information using a range of collaborative technologies to advance learning, as well as personal and professional development.

 

For more information, see the College Learning Goals Policy.