“Without accurate information,

reasoning and logic will never yield

valid conclusions and there would be
no basis for determining truth”.
WHAT IS INFORMATION?
facts provided or learned about something or
someone.
 ACCURACY
General: Freedom from error (correctness), or closeness to
truth or fact, resulting from exercise of painstaking care or due
diligence. Accuracy depends on how the data is collected, and
is usually judged by comparing several measurements from the
same or different sources.
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/accuracy.html
WHAT IS INFORMATION ACCURACY?
It relates to “the correctness of
the output information” (Bailey &
Pearson, 1983).

It is one of the elements of

intrinsic data quality (Wang & Strong,
1996)
 QUALITIES
Accurate
Information should be fair and free from bias. It should
not have any arithmetical and grammatical errors.
Information comes directly or in written form likely to be
more reliable than it comes from indirectly (from hands to
hands) or verbally which can be later retracted.
Complete
Accuracy of information is just not enough. It should also
be complete which means facts and figures should not be
missing or concealed. Telling the truth but not wholly is of
no use
Cost-beneficial
Information should be analyzed for its benefits against the cost of
obtaining it. It business context, it is not worthwhile to spend money
on information that even cannot recover its costs leading to loss each
time that information is obtained. In other contexts, such as hospitals
it would be useful to get information even it has no financial benefits
due to the nature of the business and expectations of society from it.
User-targeted
Information should be communicated in the style, format, detail and
complexity which address the needs of users of the information.
Example senior managers need brief reports which enable them to
understand the position and performance of the business at a
glance, while operational managers need detailed information which
enable them to make day to day decisions
Relevant
Information should be communicated to the right
person. It means person which has some control over
decisions expected to come out from obtaining the
information.
Authoritative
Information should come from reliable source. It depends
on qualifications and experience and past performance of
the person communicating the information.
Timely
Information should be communicated in time so that
receiver of the information has enough time to decide
appropriate actions based on the information
received. Information which communicates details of
the past events earlier in time is of less importance
than recently issued information like newspapers.
What is timely information depends on situation to
situation. Selection of appropriate channel of
communication is key skill to achieve.
Easy to Use
Information should be understandable to the users. Style,
sentence structure and jargons should be used keeping the
receiver in mind. If report is targeted to new-comer in the
field, then it should explain technical jargons used in the
report.
INFORMATION SOURCES
Primary Sources of Information: Primary sources are
original materials. They are from the time period involved
and have not been filtered through interpretation or
evaluation. Primary sources are original materials on
which other research is based. They are usually the first
formal appearance of results in physical, print or electronic
format. They present original thinking, report a discovery,
or share new information. The definition of a primary
source may vary depending upon the discipline or context
•Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture,
tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
•Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
•Diaries;
•Internet communications on email, list serves;
•Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);
•Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
•Letters;
•Newspaper articles written at the time;
Secondary Sources of Information: Secondary sources are
less easily defined than primary sources. Generally, they are
accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are
interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary
sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion
of evidence. However, what some define as a secondary source,
others define as a tertiary source. Context is everything. The
definition of a secondary source may vary depending upon the
discipline or context.
•Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);
•Biographical works;
•Commentaries, criticisms;
•Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered
tertiary);
•Histories;
•Journal articles (depending on the disciple can be
primary);
Tertiary Sources of information:
Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation
and collection of primary and secondary sources.
•Bibliography of Bibliographies;
•Almanacs;
•Bibliographies (also considered secondary);
•Chronologies;
•Dictionaries and Encyclopedias(also considered
secondary);
•Directories;
•Fact books;
•Guide books;
 PLAGIARISM
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to
"plagiarize" means:
• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an
existing source
 All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else's work as your own

• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving
credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of
your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)