ENGL 309: Proposals and Reports

• Can you tell when the page was created or last updated?  (Sometimes this is difficult to find on websites; the dates listed at the bottom of a page may not be the actual dates that content was created.)
• Is currency a major criterion for your topic?
• For websites, are the links all working?                                                                                        

• Does this source provide information that's useful for your topic?
• Is the information presented at a level that is appropriate to your needs (is it too simplistic, too advanced)?
• Have you looked at other sources to determine that this is the best resource for your topic?
• Is this a source that will be appropriate for you to cite in your final product?

• Can you tell who the author of your source is?  (This can be especially difficult with some websites.)
• Is the author qualified to speak about your topic?  (Can a professor of history speak authoritatively about climate change?  Is this source by an elementary school student, or even a college student?)
• Do any of your other sources cite this author in their work?
• Is the author an organization?  Do they have a specific agenda for promoting information on a specific side of an argument?

Accuracy

• Is the information presented with lots of spelling or grammatical errors?
• Does the information presented match other information you've found?
• Does the author cite others as evidence for their argument(s)?  Are there authorities mentioned in the content?  Is there a bibliography or sources used listing?

• Does this source provide facts or opinions or even propaganda?
• Is this source, or the organization providing this information, intended to be informative, to sell a product, to persuade, or to entertain?