To evaluate resources, you can use criteria, such as date and the author's authority in writing about a topic, to help you determine whether a resource that you found is reliable or unreliable. You can evaluate resources according to the following criteria: rationale, authority, date, accuracy, and relevance. The evaluation criteria are contained within the easy-to-remember acronym RADAR. You can use the RADAR criteria to help you evaluate news stories. See below for more information about applying the RADAR criteria to news stories.
RADAR
R - The first "R" stands for rationale. Rationale is the purpose of a news story. The criteria of rationale focuses on why something was written and/or made available to others. One purpose for creating a news story could be to inform people. Another purpose could be to influence people. If a news story contains only facts, then its likely that it was written to inform people. However, if the news story contains harsh words or sensationalism (a writing style designed to create excitement or shock), then that is an indication that the author or authors wrote it for the purpose of influencing others.
A - The first "A" stands for authority. The criteria of authority focuses on the author's authority in writing about a topic. To find information about the author or authors, look for information at the beginning or end of the news story. Some news articles may have only the author's name/s, but other articles may have information about the author, such as education or occupation. If you cannot find information about the author's education or occupation, you may want to search for that information in other resources. If you cannot find the author's name in the news story, you may want to avoid using it for research.
D - The "D" stands for date. The criteria of date refers to how current a news story is. If you need current news articles, the date is very important. Information that is old and obsolete will not be helpful to you.
A - The second "A" stands for accuracy. Is the news story you are reviewing accurate? It is very important that the resources you use in your research are accurate. Fake news stories are not accurate. You can check a news story against other resources to help you find out if the story is true or untrue. Other resources include other news websites, other newspapers, and fact checking websites. If other resources do not confirm information in the news story, or if you cannot find the full text of the news story itself, then the news story might be fake news.
R - The second "R" stands for relevance. It is important to ensure that any news articles you use in your research are relevant to the topic of your research.
Note: The above information has been provided, using the online research guide "RADAR" from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.
Evaluating a News Article
Suppose you were doing some research and you had heard about a particular news story. The title of the news story is "Pope Francis Shocks the World, Endorses Donald Trump for President, Releases Statement." Let's evaluate that news story using the RADAR evaluation criteria.
Rationale - The criteria of rationale focuses on why a resource was written and/or made available to others. In the headline of the news story, we can see evidence of sensationalism. As mentioned previously, sensationalism is a writing style designed to create excitement or shock. The first five words of the headline "Pope Francis Shocks the World" are dramatic and can produce an excited or shocked reaction. This indicates that the author or authors may have had the purpose of influencing others, not simply informing others.
Authority - What authority does the author or authors of this news story have in writing about the topic? Unfortunately, that information could not be easily found, because the full text of the article could not be found through a web search. After the unsuccessful web search, the fact checking website Snopes.com was used to help find some information about the news story. On Snopes.com, a particular person or individuals were not identified as the author or authors. However, Snopes.com stated that the news story originated from the "WTOE 5 News website." Snopes.com also stated that WTOE 5 News is a fake news website.
Date - Since the full text of the news story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump could not be found through a web search, Snopes.com was used to help find the date on which the news story was published or posted. According to Snopes.com, the news story was posted in July 2016 on the fake news website WTOE 5 News. Even if this news story had been posted on a legitimate news website, something published in July 2016 might be too old.
Accuracy - Is the news story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump accurate? To find out if this news article is accurate, I turned to Snopes.com. The Snopes.com fact checker declared the news story to be false.
Relevance - Is this news story relevant to the topic or topics of your research? Generally, you would need to read a news story to find out. In the case of this particular news story, however, it doesn't even matter. The news story is false.
Overall assessment: The news story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump for President is fake news. The recommendation is to avoid using this or any other "news" story that comes from a fake news website.
Other LibGuides
There are other LibGuides available online that provide information about evaluating resources according to the RADAR criteria. Below are links to some of those LibGuides.
Evaluating Sources: Using the RADAR Framework - This is a LibGuide from the William H. Hannon Library of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
News Literacy: The Method - This is a LibGuide from the IRSC Libraries of Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida.
RADAR - This is a handout version of the information about the RADAR evaluation criteria. This handout comes from the library of Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.