Nursing and Allied Health: Evaluate Sources

You need to critically evaluate ALL information sources, whether from the web, in print, your professor, or the library (this can be done at differing levels; you generally want to evaluate at a deeper level items you find on the open web). Ideally you want to make sure you are finding literature that represents a variety of viable (and potentially conflicting) perspectives on your topic. You also need to critically evaluate each piece of information you intend to use in your research for:

1. reliability (see Rat TRAP handout below),
2. to make sure it meets the needs of your assignment, and
3. to see if it provides supporting evidence for the arguments/ideas in your paper. 

Evaluation techniques:

• Evaluating Your Sources: Use a Rat TRAP
• Website Evaluation Tutorial