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Evaluating Internet Sources
Authorship
Accuracy
of Information
Goals
of the Site
Access
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Evaluating Sources of Information
Evaluating Internet Sources
Internet sources can be very timely and very useful, but they should
not be your sole source of information because there are also books, journals,
government publications, brochures, newspapers, etc. to read, and knowledgeable
people to interview.
Evaluating Internet sources is particularly difficult because anyone
can put up anything he or she wants to on the Internet. There is no way
to monitor what's there and no fact checking, though there are some site
ratings you can check. See Hope Tillman's "Evaluating
Quality on the Net." Scroll down to the last part of her essay for
a discussion of some sites that review and rate Web sites.
Be sure to document what you find on the Internet in such a way that
others can locate what you found. This is most easily done when you accessed
the data. Include the date you accessed the material since it can be changed
or updated later on. Be sure to browse around on the Web site to be sure
you know who the author is, what the sponsoring organization is, and so
on so that you can cite the source fully and so that you can evaluate
it properly before including it in your paper.
Authorship
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Is there an author or organization clearly indicated? If there's
an author, go back to the questions listed above about authors and
ask yourself how reputable this person is. Can the author be contacted?
(If an e-mail address is given, you can contact that person or look
up the address by using the "finger" command.)
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What can you find out about the author?
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If there is no information on the site, use a search engine or search
Usenet. You may find the author's homepage or other documents which
mention this person. Or look up the person on the Internet
Directory of Published Writers. If the person is associated with
a university, look at the university Web site.
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If there is an organization sponsoring the page, what can you learn
about the organization and who they are?
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(You can search the site by following links to its home page or going
back to a previous level on the site by eliminating the last part
of the address, after a "/" mark or a period. Another way to find
the organization is to go to the View menu at the top of your Web
browser and open the Document Information window where the owner of
the document is listed.)
Does the organization take responsibility for what's on the site?
Does it monitor or review what's on the site? Look at the address
for the site. Does it end in .edu, indicating that it's an educational
institution? If it has .gov, it should be fairly objective government-sponsored
material. Addresses with .org are usually nonprofit organizations
that are advocacy groups. (The Sierra Club is an example of an advocacy
group. Their postings will conform to their goals of environmental
preservation. Information posted by advocacy groups may be accurate
but not entirely objective.) If the site has a .com address, it's
most likely promoting or selling something.
Accuracy of Information
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Is there documentation to indicate the source of the information?
There may be a link to the original source of the information.
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Can you tell how well researched the information is?
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Are criteria for including information offered?
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Is there a bibliography or links to other useful sites? Has the author
considered information on those sites or considered viewpoints represented
there?
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Is the information current? When was it updated? (You can check at
the bottom for a "last revised" date and/or notice if there are numerous
dead links on the site.)
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Is there any indication of bias on the site?
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Does the site have any credentials such as being rated by a reputable
rating group? If you see a high rating, is that because of the soundness
of the content or the quality of the design? ( An attractive page
is not a reason for accepting its information as reliable.)
Goals of the Site
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What is the purpose of the site? To provide information? Advertise?
Persuade?
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Are the goals of the site clearly indicated?
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Who is the intended audience?
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Is there a lot of flash and color and gimmicks to attract attention?
Is that masking a lack of sound information or a blatant attempt to
get you to do or buy something?
Access
How did you find the site? Were there links from reputable sites? From
ads? If you found the site through a search engine, that means only
that the site has the words in the topic you are researching prominently
placed or used with great frequency. If you found the site by browsing
through a subject directory, that may mean only that someone at that
site registered it with that directory.
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