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Evaluate Sources - A Self-Guided Tutorial: Context - Overview

Context of Information

Knowing the context is important because Information is never sought out in a vacuum. This means that even before we begin our hunt for information we are already working within a frame of reference which influences the type of information that we should focus on as well as the types of questions we should ask of our information.

Informational context may refer to any of the following: 

  1. Any prior knowledge you have relevant to the question(s) you are asking. 
  2. Any informational criteria (for example, source type such as scholarly/academic).
  3. Intended use of and audience for the information being gathered and incorporated (for example, a speech versus a paper, or a Math Olympics event versus a summer camp).

 

Detailed description of comic (Comic made at Pixton.com)

 

This is a scenario that a lot of you have probably experienced. To some degree these directions assume a shared understanding of what is meant by “scholarly” and what is meant by “online.” Let’s break this down a bit.