Authorship

Be aware of the authority with which the author speaks. If the author is one in your own field of study, is he/she a well-known and well-regarded name you recognize?  If the author is unknown to you, consider the following questions when evaluating a source’s credibility:

• Is there information about the author, such as institutional affiliation, credentials, and contact information? 
• Is there a link out to a personal website or an "About" page?

If none of the above information is present, search for the author’s e-mail address to request further information on his/her work and professional background.

Publisher and Point-of-View

A scholarly article is published in a journal with an academic affiliation.  This generally means that the author's article has undergone a peer review process in order to verify that it meets the publisher’s standards.  Thus, an article appearing in a scholarly publication may be trusted.  For books, also make note of the publisher.  Does it come from an academic press? 
For documents found on the web this question becomes more difficult as there is no publisher in the traditional sense.  Ask the following questions to assess websites:

• Is the name of any organization given on the document you are reading?  Is there contact information?
• Does this document reside on the Web server of an organization that has a clear stake in the issue at hand?  Look at the URL.
• Do you recognize the name of the organization? Is this organization suitable to address the topic at hand?  Does this organization have a particular bias?  Beware of advertisement, corporate, political, and activist websites.  Each clearly has an agenda and thus not neutral.
• Note:  * Never assume that extremist points of view are always easy to detect. Some sites promoting these views may look educational.
• What is the relationship of the author and the publisher? Was the document that you are viewing prepared as part of the author’s professional duties (and, by extension, within his/her area of expertise)?
• Does this web document reside on an individual’s personal webpage? This type of information resource should be approached with the greatest caution.
• Has the page been recently updated?  Is the text error free?  Is the site well-designed?

Subject Expertise

The author of a work needs to be aware of related research in that subject area.  The following criteria serve as a rubric for evaluating the literature knowledge of a source:

• The document includes a bibliography.
• The author alludes to or displays knowledge of related sources, with proper attribution.
• The author displays knowledge of theories, schools of thought, or techniques usually considered appropriate in the treatment of his or her subject.
• If the author is using a new theory or technique as a basis for research, he or she discusses the value and/or limitations of this new approach.
• If the author's treatment of the subject is controversial, he or she knows and acknowledges this.
• Accuracy:  Accuracy or verifiability of details is an important part of the evaluation process, especially when you are reading the work of an unfamiliar author presented by an unfamiliar organization or presented in a non-traditional way. Consider these criteria when evaluating accuracy:
• The document relies on other sources that are listed in a bibliography or includes links to the documents themselves.
• The background information can be verified for accuracy.
• For a research document, an explanation of the research method(s) used to gather and interpret the data is included.
• The methodology outlined in the document is appropriate to the topic and allows the study to be duplicated for purposes of verification.

Currency

Currency refers to the timeliness of information. In printed documents, the date of publication is the first indicator of currency; for reliable, web-only publications, you should still be able to determine its publication or last updated data. Apply the following criteria to ascertain currency:

• The document includes the date(s) at which the information was gathered (e.g., US Census data).
• The document refers to clearly dated information (e.g., "Based on 1990 US Census data").
• The document includes a publication date or a "last updated" date and information on the regularity of updates.
• The document includes a date of copyright.
• If no date is given in an electronic document, you can view the directory in which it resides and read the date of latest modification.