• Introduction
• Relevance
• Reliability
• Assessing books
• Assessing articles
• Assessing websites
• Summary

Assessing books

How do you determine the significance of a book? The books on your reading list have been assessed by your programme. The author is probably well-known, esteemed and the book fits in well with your lessons. But how can you yourself assess a book? As stated above, you should consider both relevance and reliability.

Relevance

 

Correspondence with question and objective	Does the information correspond with the questions you formulated and/or the target audience you defined? Is a book as an information carrier suited to your information need? Does the book give a general overview? Does its level meet your requirements? Also take the question of authority into consideration here.
Completeness	Does the book give a complete picture? Are additional sources needed?
Topicality	Is current information significant for your research? What is the year of publication? Is this the most recent edition? Is it to be expected that more recent developments will now have taken place? If reference is made to other sources, how recent are these sources?

 

Reliability

Authority	Who is the author and what authority does he have? What is his background and has he published extensively? Is there an editor? What was the author’s intention when writing the book?
Accuracy	Are the facts in the book correct? Are opinions substantiated by facts?
Objectivity	Is the information presented objectively? Does the book consists principally of facts or opinions? What is the aim of the book? Information, opinion, amusement...
Quality of the book	Does the book look professional? Who published it?
Verifiability	Can facts or data be checked? Do the references to sources check out? What are the sources?

 

Example

You are writing a report in which you have to examine the psychological aspects of the subject. You have found the book Applied social psychology : understanding and managing social problems ed. by Linda Steg, Abraham P. Buunk and Talib Rothengatter.

 

Relevance

• In this book terms and theories are introduced. Various chapters and paragraphs correspond well with your questions. The level of the book is also appropriate..
• The information in the book seems to be fairly comprehensive. Nevertheless, it is advisable to consult more books in order to obtain a more complete picture. This will enable you to compare the quality and applicability of the information.

• This is the most recent edition, the book describes the current state of affairs.

Reliability

• The authors are well-known psychologists. They have written several books and articles which are also cited by others.
• It is a text book, professional literature, published by renowned publisher Cambridge University Press. The aim of the book is to inform.

• There is an extensive bibliography, also containing other recent sources. The bibliography is referred to in the text, making it possible to verify this text.

Conclusion

This is a good book to use in every respect.