2.1. How to sift through information and assess the results obtained
2.1.1. Introduction
Taking into account the amount of results obtained in the search engine, it is essential to establish several selection standards. Which information should I keep? Which information is more useful to solve my doubts?
Planning the search ahead is as important as defining the parameters we will use to sift through the information obtained and avoid wandering from one result to another aimlessly. Results should always be checked by the user and contrasted with several sources and sites. On many occasions, the first choice is not the most appropriate one.
As defined in the resource Composing and writing digital information, we should first follow a validity standard. That is to say, we should assess whether the source is appropriate for the search goals, dismissing those sources that are not valid to enter the selection process.
We will sift through all valid sources in order to prioritize the most relevant information to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.
The contents that may be found in different internet channels are not checked using any sort of centralised quality check formula that monitors its credibility. This makes it mandatory for users to analyse information sources very carefully, in order to ensure that the data and documents that were found and retrieved show a minimum level of reliability.
A search process may not be considered effectively undertaken and successfully finished if the information found does not offer a reasonable level of assurance about its reliability.
We may only be certain about the information being reliable if we rigorously apply several standards and verification strategies that endorse some results and allow us to dismiss unreliable sources of data and assessments.
We will now list some indicators on Table 1 that should be taken into account for the selection of reliable, appropriate information for our search goals. It should be noted that these indicators are a sample of the tools we have available to analyse the reliability and credibility of information; it is not necessary to analyse all of them, and they are not mutually exclusive.