- Timeliness
- Does the content include the most current knowledge of the subject?
- Does the content get updated periodically? How often? When was the last update?
- Is the knowledge current to the present day? Are more recent ideas, theories, or research available?
It is important to notice when content was created or last updated. New ideas and information can be produced and distributed very quickly in some disciplines and you could be reading disproved ideas and theories.
How current is current enough? Well, it depends upon the idea and the discipline. Some disciplines can perform experiments and distribute results very quickly. Some chemistry studies can conclude several trials within days, which speeds up time toward publication. Other studies take decades to follow research subjects, collate data, and publish results in stages as more information becomes available. Large longitudinal studies which follow a population of humans or organisms over time produce large quantities of data which can take days, months, or years to crunch, digest, and understand.
A rule of thumb for health science disciplines is that the research should have been published within the past five years. Other disciplines may require shorter or longer periods. And remember, this is only a rule of thumb. As you learn more about health topics, you can become more disciminating and make your own judgments regarding an appropriate date of publication for your topic. Meanwhile, you may ask use a rule of thumb or ask your professor to recommend an appropriate time period.
But do realize that older publications may have validity, too. Albert Einstein's "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" was published in 1905 in Germany and introduced his theory of relativity. Gregor Mendel did some important experiments on heredity which were published in 1866 but were lost until 1900.
