Evaluate Sources

Objectives are the reasons why the author published a work and the context in which it was published. Some questions to ask are: Why was the source written? Is it meant to be satire? What is the context? Are there any conflicts of interest? Was the study funded by a company that were hoping for a certain outcome? 

Purposes of Information Creation

All information that we can access online was created for a reason. This section goes over some of the major purposes people have for creating information. Keep in mind that a source might fall into more than one of these categories and that the context of your research will change what categories are useful for you. 

Education

Academic works are usually designed to educate the reader or broaden their knowledge on a topic. Plenty of non-scholarly articles are written to educate us as well, often less formally. In many cases, popular sources that are written to educate, whether news articles, blogs, or specialized information from a professional organization, will have ads on the pages. Pay attention to the content of the article to get a feel for the goal of the author.

Advertising

There are several forms of information designed to sell you something. Some ads are obvious, some might be less so. For example, many businesses have blog posts on their websites that are specifically designed to bump their website to the top of a google search. This post from a Fargo roofing company will tell you about common roofing problems in the winter, then suggest you call them to get your roof fixed. There are also websites that are sponsored to write about certain products. Usually sponsored content needs to be labeled as sponsored, but if you notice an article referring to a specific brand it's worth being wary or digging more into the context of the site, just to be sure.

Entertainment

There are thousands of websites that are aimed at entertaining people. Think about Buzzfeed's never ending supply of listicles (yes listicle is a real word, crazy right?) and quizzes, gossip sites full of the latest celebrity drama, or gaming videos on YouTube. 

Satire is a type of content designed to entertain and often offer commentary about society. One of the biggest satire sites, at least in the U.S. is The Onion. While plenty of their articles like this article about a monster being embarrassed by Guillermo Del Toro are pretty clearly fake, there are some articles that have fooled unsuspecting readers. Make sure to check the about section of pages that seem to be reporting crazy news.

Persuasion

Sometimes, a source is created specifically with the goal of convincing the reader of a certain perspective or idea. Opinion columns in newspapers and magazines, political publications, and podcasters of a certain genre all want their reader to subscribe to their way of thinking. A persuasive work is not necessarily unreliable, they just use specific tools to sway their audience.