Skip to Main Content

Theology: Evaluating Information Sources

Evaluating Information Sources

Evaluating and thinking critically about sources of information are important skills to develop and apply while undertaking research.

Not all information is reliable and appropriate for academic work, and not all information is relevant to your particular topic.

You should challenge and reflect on information that you find; don’t just accept everything you read.

Information Evaluation Frameworks

Te Whatu Aho Rau - He Anga Arotake: an information evaluation framework - provides a holistic Māori-informed view of the information evaluation process, to apply as you find and select quality information.

Collaborators: Dr Angela Feekery and Reupena Tawhai, 2024

Te Whatu Aho Rau can be interpreted as 'the weaving of a hundred threads' or 'the eye catching a hundred lights'.

Assess sources, based on four elements:

  • Pūtaketanga - Origin - trace the expertise, intent and authority
  • Aronga - Lens, Perspective, Purpose - objectivity of the information
  • Tātai hononga - Connections - conversations between ideas, communities, and disciplines
  • Māramatanga - Understanding - usability of the source for your purpose, audience, and context

     

    Formerly known as Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework

    Assess sources, based on:

  • OROKOHANGA - ‘The Origins’: The source of the information
  • MANA - ‘The Authority’ of the information
  • WHAKAPAPA - ‘The Background’ of the information
  • MĀRAMATANGA - ‘The Content’ and usability of the information
  • ARONGA - ‘The Lens’ or objectivity of the information

     

    Tutorial link

Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

SIFT - Evaluating Information Tutorial

Even though the library databases are good sources of information, we still need to evaluate that information before we decide to use it. You can do this by asking the following questions:

  • Is the information relevant to your topic?​
  • Who are the authors, are they experts in the field? Who do they work for? What else have they written?​
  • What evidence is given, what references are given, and what methodology is used?​
  • How is the study funded? Is there a bias?​
  • When was the information written, is it still relevant? Has it been updated or amended in light of new evidence?

Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

TRAAP Test

Or apply these terms to assess if the information you have found answers your research question.

Timeliness

Relevance

Authority

Accuracy

Purpose

Download the TRAAP Test Questions

Here are some resources to help develop your evaluating skills:

  • For a simple 'commonsense' approach to evaluating claims made by the news media, read this short article by Doug Specht & Julio Gimenez from the University of Westminster.
  • If you need to verify a claim, you can check it on a fact-checking website. Check out this guide to Fact Checkers, curated by the University of California Berkley Library, for ideas on what websites to use if you are not sure.
  • Work through this excellent module on 'evaluating information and critical thinking' created by The University of Sheffield Library.
  • Check out this fun, short, easy game, created by a Canadian civics charity organisation 'CIVIX'. The game is designed to improve your verifying sources skills, by teaching you tricks for checking a claim, a source and an image: FAKEOUT