Two thoughts: first, I ask them, "when you find a website* that you want to cite in a paper, what do you look for to determine if it's credible enough to use?" This usually gets them to list things like dates, author, .org/.com/.edu, etc. We then generalize these to larger categories like currency, authority, etc. (*we are usually doing this in the context of evaluating web sources, but I try to emphasize that these criteria apply to ALL sources, including peer-reviewed journal articles.) - Catherine Pellegrino

Second: can you try giving them a real-world example of an information need (e.g., parent who's been diagnosed with cancer, or need to buy a new TV set, or something like that) and ask them what criteria they would apply to the information they find recommending one course of action or another? - Catherine Pellegrino

See the clothing analogy in the other thread :) Other analogies include choosing a holiday and buying a car. All to get across the idea of check before choosing! - Pete

Great ideas. One thing I've decided is I'm never using the word bias again. Instead, I will use words such as: perspective, agenda, argument, goal, objective, opinion. Bias, in my experience, is either meaningless or misleading to them. - marthalib

I always say bias is fine, even to be expected but they need to be aware of it. - Pete

I agree, Pete, but it seems to be such a loaded term. - marthalib

yes- i like your suggestions. but if the word bias comes uo, that is how I deal with it. - Pete

This is making me realize that I pretty much never talk about this with students. - Steveo Librareo

Bias is hard: our students appear to learn about it in high school, and have this idea that it's easy to spot (and they know how to do it). It's not, and they don't. In that respect, I think talking about it using different words would be useful, as it gets them out of their comfort zone. - Catherine Pellegrino

Less easy I think with humanities but it's always good to know where/what kind of grants and funding the authors are getting. One remembers to take with a bigger grain of salt when seeing that a medical author discloses that he/she gets grants from pharma company and then is writing about a product said pharma company puts out. (Not that the physicians always show preference but it's a good thing to keep in the back of one's mind) - Hedgehog

Dorothea is right- even unto the library science literature... - Pete

Now this I have talked about in book reviews. "Notice how the reviewer says this is an important book that everyone should have--so they establish what a Big Deal the book is--and then they spend the next six paragraphs ripping it to shreds so they establish how they themselves are an Even Bigger Deal?" - Steveo Librareo

Hmm, I think things like selection bias and response bias are important, though - specific types of bias with definitions [that are not really substitutes for just "perspective"] and real effects on the literature. That may be a little beyond the level you're going for, though. Peer review. And that appearing in a peer reviewed, reputable journal still does not guarantee that a study is well-designed or well-reported. That one must read beyond the abstract and conclusions, as authors often (intentionally or otherwise) misrepresent what a study actually demonstrates. - Rachel Walden