RADAR

RADAR is an acronym representing a framework for evaluating knowledge sources, to determine whether or not they are appropriate for your research.

• R is for Relevance
• A is for Authority
• D is for Date
• A is also for Appearance
• R is also for Reason

Relevant knowledge:

• helps answer your research question
• is related to your topic
• can be from any discipline

Authority refers to the author, creator, publisher or keeper of the knowledge. What is their credibility? What are their credentials? For knowledge to be authoritative:

• the name of the author, creator, publisher, or knowledge keeper, whether a person, organization or institution
• What is the author or knowledge keeper’s positionality? Is their education, training, occupation or position relevant to the subject?
• In the case of scholarly/academic sources, does the bibliography, list of references or list of works cited contain relevant, authoritative sources?
• Does the author or knowledge keeper have a history of creating or sharing credible, reliable information in the field?

When was the information source written, created and/or last updated? Just because something is older doesn’t mean that it isn’t useful. Consider whether the information source:

• is the latest and most up-to-date, and whether or not this is important
• was seminal (meaning it had a strong influence over later research in the field)
• can be used for historical context

The appearance of the information source (i.e. how the information is presented) can sometimes be an indicator of its quality. Scholarly/academic information tends to be presented:

• with little or no advertising
• with an abstract describing the content
• with a bibliography, list of references or list of works cited that support the author’s argument
• in peer-reviewed, scholarly/academic journals or books

What was the author’s reason for creating the information source? Appropriate scholarly/academic information sources are created:

• to educate by spreading scholarly/academic information
• to inform further scholarly/academic research
• never to entertain
• never to sell something

RADAR is only a guideline to help you remember criteria for evaluating scholarly/academic information sources. Not every information source needs to pass every aspect of the RADAR criteria. Use your own judgement.