WELLINGTON SECONDARY SCHOOL LIBRARY
EVALUATING
INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET
[from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or, Why It's a Good
Idea to Evaluate Web Sources" New Mexico State University Library]
[To try an interactive tutorial on evaluating
websites, click here.]
Why should we believe what we are reading?
We believe it
because it has authority or credibility. To have authority, a
website clearly identifies someone or some organization who is responsible for
its contents.
Anyone is free to post anything on the web, regardless of their expertise or
the accuracy of their statements; there are no rules. Therefore, it is especially
important to evaluate all online information that you plan to use for your assignment.
This checklist will help you to evaluate information in all formats.
1. WHO? QUALIFICATIONS? AFFILIATIONS?
- Who is the author?
- Does the author have an association with a university, company, or organization?
- Is the author considered an expert on the subject?
- Is there a way to contact the author?
2. BALANCED PRESENTATION? BIAS? AGENDA?
- Is there an obvious point of view or favour given to one side of an issue?
- Is the language used emotional or sensational?
- Does the author have a specific agenda or purpose?
While it is important to recognize these factors, it does not necessarily exclude the use of this information. Consider the facts presented and verify them with other sources.
3. ACCURACY?
- Are there factual errors? Grammar or spelling errors?
- Find other sources that support the facts.
4. CURRENCY? LAST UPDATE?
When was the site last updated? If you are dealing with a current issue, has anything happened since the last update that would make the information invalid or out of date?
Any broken links?
5. COVERAGE AND CONTENT? BIBLIOGRAPHY?
- Is the information complete and consistent with what you already know?
- Does the information make sense to you?
- If the information relevant to your assignment? Does it meet your research needs?
- Is there a bibliography or are sources acknowledged in some way?
- Are there useful links?
ADDRESS? .EDU? .ORG? .COM? .GOV? .CA?
- .edu is an education site. This does not guarantee authority. Elementary school projects are often published on their school websites
- .org is an organization, usually non-profit, such as Amnesty International
- .com is a commercial enterprise, business, company
- .gov is a government or government department
- .ca is Canada
- There are two letter address for countries (au=australia, e.g.)
In the US and Canada these may follow a two letter address for province or state, e.g., bc.ca for BC, ca.us for California
Be sure to cite your sites:
- Author. "Page Title." Website. Date on website. <URL>
(Date page viewed).