- Who is the author? Is the information signed?
- Can you spot any evidence of possible bias or advocacy? e.g. nationality or political or religious?
- pursue the links to find the author, e.g. Black History: Exploring African-American Issues on the Web.
- Is the person qualified or knowledgeable?
- Why was the page published on the Internet?
- If the author isn't clearly identified, either e-mail the webmaster and ask, or don't use the information.
- Is the name of the copyright holder given?
- Or, look up the author in a biographical reference such as Contemporary Authors .
- What is the reputation of the Publisher?
- Vanity or Personal Pages
- Can sometimes be recognized by a tilde (~) embedded in the URL. e.g. The STArchive.
- Are the author's qualifications indicated?
- Is there evidence of bias and is it clearly stated? e.g. Al Gore - Stupid Statements
Evaluating Web Sources
Beware of the dog.
Proverb
Consider
1. Authority
2. Accuracy
3. Currency
4. Has it been reviewed?
1. Authority
Always question why is the information being distributed on the Internet?
- Advertising/Public Relations/Commercial Pages
- The domain name usually ends in com.
- What are they selling? e.g. Shark Cartilage Information Exchange.
- Is there a link to more information about the company and its approval of the contents of the page?
- Are there links provided to product reviews or outside reports filed with the SEC?
- News Web Pages
- Is it clear what company is sponsoring the page?
- Is there a print equivalent to verify articles?
- Is there a link to indicate how frequently the news is updated? e.g. CNN Interactive.
- If it is a newspaper does it indicate which edition? e.g. New York Times. uses the National Edition.
- If it is a news broadcast, does it indicate the date and time? e.g. All Things Considered.
- Advocacy Associations:
- The domain name usually ends in .org. e.g. The Sierra Club
- Is it clear what organization is behind the page? Is there a link to describe its goals? e.g. PETA vs. PETA.
- Is there a phone number and mailing address to verify the legitimacy of the page? An e-mail address alone isn't enough.
- Professional Association URLs also end in .org.
e.g. Medix Resources, Inc or Total Entertainment Restaurant Corp?
(You will find these links under Investor Relations.)
- Scholarly work or a University Press?
- Always notice the domain name: www.whitehouse.gov/ vs. www.whitehouse.net/
http://georgewbush.com vs http://gwbush.com
2. Accuracy
- Check any "facts" in more than one source. Which of these would you pick?
- Feminist Women's Health Center
- University of Santa Anita
- JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center, Best of the Net
- Is the information free of grammatical or spelling errors?
- What is the source of this information? Are there references or a bibliography to check?
- If there is advertising on the page, is it differentiated from the informational content?
- Does the language used indicate the statements are factual vs. opinion and rumor, or even humor?
- If there is a print equivalent of the source is it clear that the Web page is showing part or all of the book?
- Consider if there is significant information that was omitted.
e.g. The Internet Index or Statistics about the Vietnam War.
e.g. The Onion.
3. Currency
- Facts should be current. Webster's Dictionary or HIV/AIDS Epidemic.
- What is the date the information was published or posted to the web? e.g. FAS News.
- When was the page last revised?
- Statistics should clearly show the dates of the data and methods used,
- Information from a company's annual report should clearly show the date. e.g. Philip Morris.
e.g. United States HIV & AIDS Statistics By State.
4. Has it been Reviewed?
- Magazines, journals and newspapers review web sites. - try Periodical Abstracts.
- Has the Web site received any awards? e.g. Sport Quest.
- Has it been included in a Guide or Directory?
- AlphaSearch The Heckman Digital Library, Calvin College provides an index to Internet "gateway" sites. The authors of these "gateway" sites have spent significant time gathering into one place all relevant sites related to a discipline, subject, or idea.
- The Argus Clearinghouse - The University of Michigan School of Information and Library Science
- BUBL Information Service - By the Andersonian Library, Strathclyde University.
- Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections - Library of the University of California
- Librarians' Index to the Internet - 70 California Public Librarians
- Virtual Information Center - UC Berkeley Library subject specialists
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Jefferson
- Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
- Worldwide Labs' Melatonin Central
- Urban Legends - Read the truth about the "hook" and other urban legends.
Critical Thinking Activities"Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly."
Roger Ebert. "Critical Eye Column"
Yahoo Internet Life Sept. 1998: 66.
Examine these web sites and decide if the information
is credible:
-
Be sure to cite your sources correctly.
- How
Do I Cite My Sources? - from the Otterquest Library Tutorial
| Return to Internet Search Engines page. | Return to Otterquest |
This page maintained by Patricia Rothermich, Reference Librarian at Otterbein College's Courtright Memorial Library since 1990.