You have probably found quite a lot of information on your topic by now. It is not always easy to decide whether the information that you have found is suitable. The following tips and techniques will help you to evaluate the information:

Fact vs opinion	Currency (up-to-date)
Authority	Intended audience
Publishing body	Popular vs academic
Eliminate irrelevant information	Primary vs secondary source
Critical reading

Here are some examples:

Fact	Opinion
Cape Town is called the Mother City.	Cape Town is the best city to live in.
Abortion is legal in South Africa.	I do not agree with abortion or I do agree with abortion.

• Can be verified in reference books, official records, and so forth.

• Are expressed in concrete language or specific numbers.

• Once verified, are generally agreed upon by people.

• Opinions are often expressed as comparisons (more, strongest, less, most, least efficient, but): Women are weaker than men.

• Opinions are often expressed by adjectives (brilliant, vindictive, fair, trustworthy):    Disrespectful people don’t greet others.

• Opinions often involve evaluations: The excellence of her science project was a model for other students.

• Opinions are often introduced by verbs and adverbs that suggest some doubt in the writer's mind:

-  It appears she was confused.

Fact vs opinion

When you evaluate information it is very important to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Fact: A fact is something concrete that can be proven. You can find facts in legal records, scientific findings, encyclopaedias, atlases, etc. In other words, facts are the truth and are accepted as such.

Opinion: An opinion is less concrete. It's a view formed in the mind of a person about a particular issue. In other words it is what someone believes or thinks, and is not necessarily the truth. Also, note in the examples below how facts are the same for everybody, but opinions can differ quite widely.

Fact or Opinion

Because writers don't always say things directly, sometimes it is difficult to figure out what a writer really means or what he or she is really trying to say. You need to learn to "read between the lines" - to take the information the writer gives you and figure things out for yourself.

You will also need to learn to distinguish between fact and opinion. Writers often tell us what they think or how they feel, but they don't always give us the facts. It's important to be able to interpret what the writer is saying so you can form opinions of your own. As you read an author's views, you should ask yourself if the author is presenting you with an established fact or with a personal opinion. Since the two may appear close together, even in the same sentence, you have to be able to distinguish between them.

The key difference between facts and opinions is that facts can be verified, or checked for accuracy, by anyone. In contrast, opinions cannot be checked for accuracy by some outside source. Opinions are what someone personally thinks or how he/she feels about an issue. Opinions by definition are subjective and relative.

Defining a Fact

Facts are objective, concrete bits of information. They can be found in official government and legal records, and in the physical sciences. Facts can be found in reference books, such as encyclopaedias and atlases, textbooks, and relevant publications. Objective facts are what researchers seek in laboratories or through controlled studies. Facts are sometimes expressed using precise numbers or quantities, in weights and measures, and in concrete language.

The decisions of government, specific technological data, birth records, historical documents, all provide researchers with reliable facts.

Since anyone can look up facts, facts are generally not the subject of disputes. However, not all facts are absolutes. Often the problem is that facts are simply not readily available or differ depending on the source of information. An example of this is the rate of HIV infection in SA.

To sum up, facts:

Determining an Opinion

Opinions are based on subjective judgement and personal values rather than on information that can be verified. An opinion is a belief that someone holds without complete proof or positive knowledge that it is correct. Even experts who have studied the same issue carefully often have very different opinions about that issue.
Opinions are often disputed, and many times involve abstract concepts and complex moral issues such as right or wrong, fairness and loyalty. Abstract concepts, because they are not easily understood, can never be defined to everyone's satisfaction. For example, each of us holds a personal opinion about what fairness or loyalty is, about gun control and abortion, and these issues always remain a matter of opinion, not fact.

Although opinions cannot be verified for accuracy, writers should, nevertheless, back their opinions with evidence, facts, and reason - by whatever information supports the opinion and convinces the reader that it is a valid opinion. A valid opinion is one in which the writer's support for his or her opinion is solid and persuasive, and one in which the writer cites other respected authorities who are in agreement. If a writer presents an extreme or unconvincing opinion, the reader should remain wary or unconvinced.

Writers often slip their personal opinions into a piece of writing, even when it is suppose to be a "factual" account; alert readers can identify subjective opinions by studying the writer's language.

• Opinions are often expressed as comparisons (more, strongest, less, most, least efficient, but): Women are weaker than men.
• Opinions are often expressed by adjectives (brilliant, vindictive, fair, trustworthy):    Disrespectful people don’t greet others.
• Opinions often involve evaluations: The excellence of her science project was a model for other students.
• Opinions are often introduced by verbs and adverbs that suggest some doubt in the writer's mind:

-   It appears she was confused.

-  She seems to have the qualifications for the position.

-   They probably used dirty tricks to win.

Currency (up-to-date)

Since knowledge advances so rapidly, it is often very important to use only current (new) information. In academic work it is considered bad practice not to use current information.

Currency refers to the age of the information. You will have to decide how important it is for you to have current information. Your topic will help you determine the currency of information you need. If your assignment is about history, then you will probably be looking for older material and currency will not be that important to you. Current (up to date) information can be found in the latest newspapers, journals, television programmes, books, acts/law reports, etc.

To know if the information is current, look at the following:

• When the information was published or written.
• Is information in this field constantly being updated and are there new ideas being written? In certain subject fields like e.g. IT (Information Technology), you will find that information is quickly outdated and needs constant updating.

Authority

It is important to know where the information is coming from and by whom it was written. Look at the following:

• Who is the author of the information?
• What are the credentials of the author, e.g. qualifications?
• What else did the author publish, especially in the same field?
• Is the author in any way biased?
• Was the information written by a person who is a specialist in this field or is it merely someone's hobby or opinion?
• Was the content verified, reviewed or peer-reviewed in any way?
• If the information is published by an organisation, is that organisation recognised and a reliable source/authority? E.g. the South African National Tuberculosis Association for information on TB-related topics.

Make use of the following resources to answer the above questions:

• Internet. You can do a search on the name of the author to help you determine what else the author has published and might even provide the credentials of the author, etc.
• Publication (book or article). You might find the authors credentials and qualifications in his publications.
• Read the preface!

Intended Audience

When people write articles, papers, etc. it's always aimed at a specific audience, for

e.g. a childcare article that is aimed at parents, a highly scientific article is aimed at other scientists on that level. Therefore the following is important:

• Who is the intended audience for the source (books, journals, etc.)? Look at the preface.
• Is the publication aimed at a highly specialised, technical audience or is it more basic and elementary?
• The bottom line is to make sure that the information is appropriate for your needs.
• Again, the preface will often answer these questions. Modern retrieval and search systems also sometimes indicate the targeted audience.

Publishing body

Who is the publishing body of the source (books, journals, etc.)?

• What other publications have been previously published?
• Is it a reputable or well-known publisher?

Popular vs academic

All magazines, journals and newspapers are known as Periodicals in the Library. Journals are classified as academic and magazines are classified as popular. The following will explain the difference between academic journals and popular magazines:

Academic: Journals can be identified by the following:

Written by an expert or a specialist in that specific field.

• Is an academic publication.
• It will generally provide footnotes and a bibliography.
• It reports on original research or reviews the state of a field.
• Usually has graphs, diagrams and tables, but few photographs.
• Targeted at subject specialists.

 Eliminate irrelevant information

You might feel that you are overloaded with too much information and don't know where to start. Read through selected documentation and highlight the relevant information. By doing this you eliminate irrelevant information.

The different stages of eliminating irrelevant information

Primary vs secondary sources

Primary source

A primary source gives you original research that is presented for the first time: In other words new findings and theories.

See the following examples:

• An article in a newspaper written by a journalist or freelance writer who was present at that specific event and is now writing about and describing what has happened.
• Journals that publish latest or new findings.

Secondary source

A secondary source does not present new information or research, but provides information or evaluations of previously presented research.

Critical Reading

Nowadays it is easy to feel and be overloaded with information, therefore critical reading is an extremely important and necessary skill when doing research. This skill will enable you to read effectively and efficiently and help you to interpret what the author is saying.

Critical Reading is make judgments about how the text is argued a technique for discovering information and ideas within a text.

In other words critical reading is all about understanding what the author is saying, following his/her argument and looking for evidence that supports the author's viewpoint. Most important of all do not believe everything you read. Check it to see if it is logical.

Practical tips

• Begin your reading by skimming the material You do that by reading the introduction, summary, conclusions, headings, etc. Highlight what is important to you.
• Determine the purpose of the text What is the author trying to say, what is the purpose of the article, book, etc.
• Make judgments about the context Who is the intended audience of the text? What is the viewpoint of the author. Is the author biased in any way? Is there a logical flow of text?
• Examine the evidence What evidence is given for statements, opinions, etc. Analyse the evidence. How is the evidence used in the text? Look for examples.

The CARS checklist for research source evaluation

Use the following criteria for evaluating a research source

Credibility	Trustworthy source, author's credentials, evidence of quality control, known or respected authority, organizational support. Goal: an authoritative source, a source that supplies some good evidence that allows you to trust it.
Accuracy	Up to date, factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive, audience and purpose reflect intentions of completeness and accuracy. Goal: a source that is correct today (not yesterday), a source that gives the whole truth.
Reasonable	Fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth.
Support	Listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied. Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it).

Evaluating information on the world wide web (www)

It is not always easy to determine if information on the World Wide Web is credible. However, using the guidelines below will help you in making that evaluation.

Evaluating Information Found on the Web	·         Anyone can publish anything on a Web page!! ·         Information on the Internet is not screened or standardized in any way to make sure it is accurate or useful. ·         The following are some criteria that should be considered when deciding whether or not to use any information from the Web.
Essential Web document elements	The first things to check on a Web document for are the header, body and footer.

Within each of these pieces you should be able to determine the vital elements for evaluating the following information: Author or contact person - usually located in the footer. Link to local home page - usually located either in header or footer. Institution - usually located in either header or footer. Date of creation or revision - usually located in footer. Intended audience - determined by examining the body. Purpose of the information - determined by examining the body.

What to look for

Below are important criteria that may be used to evaluate Web information. Accuracy - How reliable and error free is the information? Who is the sponsoring institution (government, University, commercial company)? How credible or well known is the sponsoring institution? Does the information consist of documented facts or personal opinion? Authority - Is the Author or source of the information identified and his/her qualifications in evidence? Does the site exhibit good grammar, spelling, and literary composition? Objectivity - What is the site’s purpose: to inform, explain, persuade or sell? Is the information presented with a minimum of personal bias? Currency - Is the content of the work up-to-date? Is the date of creation or most recent revision date clearly shown?