Introduction
During your search, you will find all kinds of information. From this, you will want to select relevant, reliable sources. But how do you identify these? In this module, we will give you some useful tips on how to assess the various sources you found.
The most important criteria on which to assess publications are:
Relevance: the extent to which the information contributes to answering the (research) question.
Assessing this, consider:
- content and level
- form
- topicality
Reliability: the extent to which you can be sure the information is correct.
Assessing this, consider:
- the source (author/organisation) and the realization of the document
- content: accuracy, objectivity, verifiability and quality of the information resource are important
The assessment of medical literature is somewhat more complex than many other types of literature: read more on this in Nice to know.
