Competency 6. 
Critically evaluate the information retrieved.

6.1 Use a variety of criteria, such as author's credentials, peer review, and reputation of the publisher, to assess the authority of the source.
6.2 Assess the relevancy of a source to an information need by examining publication date, purpose, and intended audience.
6.3 Recognize omission in the coverage of a topic.
6.4 Recognize and evaluate documentation for the information source, such as research methodology, bibliography or footnotes.
6.5 Distinguish between primary and secondary sources in different disciplines and evaluate their appropriateness to the information need.
6.6 Apply evaluation criteria to all information formats.

Best Practice Examples

• Conducting Research for an Exploratory Essay (O'Keeffe)
• Job Hunting on the Internet HTML Slide Show (Lazewski)
• Journal Database Searching Exercise Using Advanced Techniques (Herrling)
• The Bibliography: Last Things First (Piele)
• Ethical Issues Addressed in a Web-Based Library Tutorial (Steinhoff/Smith)
• Evaluating Web Sites (Shutkin)
• Evaluating Web Sites (Weisbard)
• Using a Metasite (Weisbard)

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