Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Strategic Source Evaluation: Addressing The Container Conundrum, Alyssa Russo, Amy Jankowski, Stephanie Beene, Lori Townsend

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose

This paper argues that information containers provide valuable context clues that can help students make choices about how to engage with information content. The authors present a strategic approach to source evaluation rooted in format and authority threshold concepts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors developed a source evaluation strategy with the objective of deciding whether to trust an information source. This strategy involves a set of cues to help readers mindfully engage with both the container and content of a given source.

Findings

When conducting research, non-experts are asked to evaluate content in the absence of relevant subject expertise. The cues …