RADAR is an acronym that stands for:
The following tabs will explain each component.
Adapted from:
Mandalios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal Of Information Science, 39, 470-478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551513478889
Knowing what sources are and how to judge whether or not they are appropriate for your paper and also whether or not they are trustworthy enough to use is very important in an academic setting (and also in every day life). This guide introduces sources and gives a general idea of what they are. It also gives some way to judge what kind of sources you're likely to find given your paper topic. Moreover, and most importantly, it gives some guidance on how to evaluate these sources on the basis of various criteria.
You have always wondered if you can trust a source before you use it in your research, or if you're just trying to use it for debating a political point on Social Media and post a news link to support that given point. Following these tabs inside the box will pose a series of questions and present some scenarios for your reflection so you can judge the quality of the source.
Knowing whether you can trust a source is important.
The Most Common Exercise is called the CRAAP test. This box walks you through that.
First you want to determine how up-to date your information is. This can simply be done by checking the publication/copyright dates usually found on the front page of an article or on the back of the title page in a book. The reason why you want to check this is simple enough an explanation if you are in the sciences. Here is an example:
So there are time constraints about when something is up to date for your reference.
Now it seems counterintuitive to check on the currency first before even realizing if the source you have has anything to do with what you are researching, but yes, currency is rather easy to check. But now you really do want to see if there's any match between the source and what your research queries are.
The scenario that follows can help you to judge the source overall and can be applied to any research scenario you have.
Now you need to ask: Who wrote this source?
Can you trust a source without an author (and we're not talking about newswires like Reuters or Associated Press or websites, documents, reports, or statutes written by corporate authors such as a report by the American Cancer Society)?
Can you really trust a source where you can't figure out what kind of experience the author has on the topic?
Now we are talking about sources written in the modern era, if you have run across a historical source that lacks an author, it may be because the author was never identified because the source (and origins of the document) have been lost through time--Beowulf is a prime example--or it would have been socially unacceptable or unsellable to have an author's name attached--prime example are the novels written by Jane Austen which were originally sold as written by a Lady.
Now you've assessed that the author has good credentials. You now have to ask, regardless of their credentials, is the information presented is actually correct?
If it's a set of data, has the method of the collection of said data been enumerated or listed within the source. Has the data been originally collected by the author or been reported on by author?
Judging accuracy may be a difficult thing to do, unless you've also gathered other sources to support your topic. This just proves that it's vitally important never to just use one source for supporting of your paper and thesis. You may also need to perform some fact checking.
Now that you've assessed that the author is authoritative and the information accurate. Now you've got to figure out what aim the material has.
Why did the author write this piece? To prove a point? To inform us and instruct us on some topic? Or to satirize? To get even for some wrong? To provide political propaganda?
Is the author a liberal or a conservative politically? Are they writing something that is on a hot button topic?
Now here is a caveat. No source or author is without bias. Everyone has an opinion about something. Most sources are out to prove a point. So having a slant is almost necessary, but an egregious bias and using their own politics to taint their offerings is something to consider and question if one can trust the source or not.
You've determined that the source works for you but now you've really got to do the real test if this is a good source to use.
First question: Does the source use citations?
Does the source enter into the academic conversation by quoting from other sources?
Does it have in-text citations or footnotes/endnotes? Does it have a bibliography?
If it does, that means it has done it's research and is not just spouting hard to prove data points. If it doesn't can you really trust anything that it says especially hard to prove data points.
Now for an exercise, pretend you're doing research into Witchcraft in History. Scan through the following sources, perform a Google search on the author (if provided) and judge according to the questions and the previous slides, which sources are the best to use. Note, I have purposefully eliminated the need to ask the relevancy question for purposes of conciseness. Also note, since this is a historical topic, currency may not prove an issue except for those who are knowledgeable about historiography, which for purposes of this guide is not necessary to have. So assume every source has current information.
Sometimes you will also wonder what kind of sources you need for your paper.
First
It is advised that you simply explore what is available.
Second
Referring to the Information Cycle images below, you may want to figure out how new the topic is and what is available to you.
Third
You may want to assess what either your personally crafted research questions/thesis or your instructor's parameters for the assignment requires that you use.
Fourth
Using scholarly articles and books should be a priority if possible; however, don't feel limited to using only these types of sources. Try to find sources that work best for your specific paper. Ultimately, you will want to find sources that help prove your thesis and address your research questions. These sources may include web and magazine sources, as well as scholarly articles and books. Therefore, do not worry about your preconceived notions about what you think you need to find. Keep an open mind when discovering which sources work for your research questions, parameters of your assignment, and/or your thesis.