Click the Menu button on the upper left side and select “settings.”
Click the link for “Library Links” in the settings menu. Type “Missouri Valley College” for the library, and hit search. When it comes up, check the box and click “Save.” You must have cookies enabled on your computer. You only have to do this the first time you use Google Scholar on your computer. Afterwards it will remain connected.
Evaluating Web Results: A Contextual Approach
A contextual approach uses information found in a variety of sources to evaluate the information found in single source. A contextual approach promotes critical thinking by encouraging the researcher to question a source and make “reasoned judgements of information quality” informed by multiple sources.
Comparison
"Comparison is the examination of the similarities and differences between two or more items. When applied to the evaluation of web sites, comparing means analyzing the similarities and differences in the content of two or more web sites to each other or comparing the content from web sites to other information formats such as newspaper or magazine articles, peer-reviewed journal articles, or scholarly books."
Corroboration
"To corroborate information is to verify it against one or more different sources...Since more information is available and accessible [on the web], this information can be used to verify individual Web sites that may be questionable. The more sources that can be found to corroborate the information, there is a greater probability that the information is reliable.”
Excerpts from:
Meola, M. (2004). Chucking the checklist: A contextual approach to teaching undergraduates web-site evaluation. Libraries and the Academy, 4(3).
The contents of the Information Literacy Tutorial may be reused with attribution. Please copy the following into new works based on the Information Literacy Tutorial.
