News and Newspapers

The history of online news is still a pretty short one - and it's a confusing one. No single standard has arisen as "the way" to run a news site. Many news sites will ask you to pay for articles. Before paying for an article, try the library! We have access to a large number of newspapers, often with little or no lag time. Check out our news sources through UAS:

A great tool for tracking and keeping up to date with today's news, Google News pulls from a wide variety of sources from around the web to give you your news feed. You can see trending stories, local news, and most of all - personalize. With the personalize tools, you can increase how much news you get about certain subjects of interest, and change the main sources you are getting news from - blogs and press releases? Do you follow movies, biology, or zombies? Or all three together? All of that can be arranged with Google News.

Yes, Google News is a great tool for organizing news from around the Internet, and getting it all in one place. However, in keeping with Information Literacy, it is important to note that you are putting a lot of the decision making into Google's hands (or someone else's - like Yahoo News or MSN). Remember to get information from different and reputable sources. For more, check out this Ted Talk:

It's important to evaluate to insure that you use the best information resources possible for your research and study, as well as for making personal decisions.  Information that you find in many different formats may be unreliable, dated, or biased.  Make sure to pick the best!

To evaluate a source that you may want to use for a paper or presentation, use the 5Ws+H questions below to do a quick review for credibility. These questions help you to examine the source itself plus what others say about the source. 

Who is the author or creator?

• An Expert, Scholar, Journalist, Nonprofit, Corporation, Government, Advertiser / Influencer, Unknown?
• Look up the author using a search engine to learn about their background.

When was it published / posted?

• Is it timely for your topic?

Where was it published / posted? 

• Scholarly journal, Magazine, News source, Website, Social media, Other?
• Look up the publication or website on Wikipedia or using a search engine. What did you learn about the source?

Why does the source exist? 

• Inform, Persuade, Politicize, Research, Educate, Entertain, Sell?

What is the main idea?

• How is it relevant to your topic?

How does it incorporate evidence?

• Reference list (cited works), Quotes, Charts / graphs, Methodology, Original research / Data, Anecdote / Personal Experience, Other?

Adapted from: The Source + Beyond the Source Evaluation Framework by DePaul University Library CC:BY:NC