Evaluating Information Sources:
Applying Critical Standards to Periodicals
Use traditional periodicals to help students learn to evaluate sources
of information. Try these two exercises:
I. Locate stories about the same topic or event
in three different periodicals: a scholarly journal, a substantive
news or general interest publication, and a popular magazine.
What features distinguish a
scholarly journal from other types of periodicals? How does the level of
vocabulary and detail differ in each type of periodical? What is the intended
audience?
For a detailed description of the distinctions between these types
of publications, see Distinguishing
Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals.
II. Locate stories about the same topic or event
in three different news magazines categorized as liberal, moderate,
and conservative.
What are the characteristics
of publications which allow you to conclude that they are liberal? moderate?
conservative? How does their orientation affect the way they presented
information about the topic or event you selected?
Proceed to Evaluating
Internet Sources.
Go back to Searching
the 'Net.