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Research Guides

GGRB03: Writing Geography

This guide will help students in GGRB03 with finding scholarly and popular sources for your essay assignment on writing a personal story about a place you lived or visited.

RADAR to Evaluate Resources

When you find a source of information does it pass the RADAR test? And how do you know it's a 'good' source to use for your assignment?

RADAR is a framework for evaluating sources of information you find on the web or elsewhere. Use the questions of RADAR to ask yourself if this is a quality source of information that is useful for my research. 

 

R Rational

WHY did the author or publisher make this information available?

A Authority WHO is the author? (this may be a person or an organization)
D Date WHEN was the information published? Is the publication date important to you?
A Accuracy

Was the information REVIEWED by editors or subject experts before it was published?

WHAT do other people have to say on the topic? Is there general agreement among subject experts?

R Relevance

HOW is the information that you have found relevant to your assignment?

Rationale, Accuracy, Date, Authority, Relevance

Adapted from: Mandalios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources. Journal of Information Science, 39(4), 470–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551513478889