Evaluating Sources: Relevance

Evaluating Sources Using Relevance


Vocabulary

  • Relevance

Relevance, the second ‘R’ in RADAR, refers to how closely connected the source is to your topic. As you initially check over a source, see how much of its content relates to your topic. Sources, where the majority of the subject addresses your topic, are the best; if your topic is only mentioned briefly, try to find a source that has more content related to your topic.

  • Tip: read the abstract of academic journal articles to determine the subjects of an article.

Relevance can also be closely connected to date - if a source is out-of-date, it may no longer be relevant.

In some cases, you may not find relevant information! If this occurs, it might be an indication that more research is needed in the area. However, it’s important to make sure you have conducted searches of various sources and used synonyms of your keywords before jumping to this conclusion. Don’t forget, librarians are able to help you design your searches and suggest subject databases to search!

Questions to ask about relevance:

  • Is the information closely related to your topic, and will it contribute to answering your research question?
  • Is the information too technical or too simplified for you to use?
  • Is the source current, or does it need to be?
  • Does the source add something new to your knowledge of the topic?
  • Is the information focused on the geographical location you are interested in?

(Relevance questions are adapted from William H. Hannon Library Links to an external site., Loyola Marymount University)

 

Activity

  1. Consider this research question: How are Canadian universities supporting Indigenous language revitalization?  Are these sources relevant to answering the research question?

Use the following set of questions to assess the sources’ relevance:

  • Is the information closely related to the topic?
  • Is the information understandable to you?
  • Is the source current? Does that matter to your topic?
  • Does the source add something new to your knowledge of the topic?
  • Is the information focused on the geographic location you are interested in?

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