2. It’s confusing
sometimes!
•There are billions of websites out there
•Many of them are not worthy of your time and
don’t belong in your bibliographies!
•Often it’s hard to tell treasure from trash
•Sometimes Web developers don’t want you to
understand the difference
4. Here’s how people decide to
trust...
•Looks nice (design)
•Logical, clear (understandable)
•An expert should know (credentials)
•An expert approves (vetting)
•Asserts expertise (tone, word choice, citations)
•Been right before (tradition, reputation)
•Everybody says so (opinion polls, surveys,voting)
•Me and my friends agree (tags, blogs)
•I found it (indexed, Page Rank relevance)
•That’s the answer I wanted (feeling, intuition)
5. The Ugly
At worst the Internet can lead you to
misinformation that could land you in
real trouble.
Unfortunately there are a lot of sharks
on the Internet - people who want to
trick you, misinform you, deceive you
and defraud you. Some web sites and
emails can be real crime scenes.
Be skeptical, not paranoid!
6. Remember, it’s up to you to make
sure you don’t degrade your work
by quoting misinformation from
the Internet.
If you’re in doubt, leave it
out!
7. What can the URL tell you?
Techniques for Web Evaluation :
1. Before you leave the list of search results -glean all you can from the URLs of each
page.
2. .edu? .org? .net? .com? Which will help you?
3. Then choose pages most likely to be reliable
and authentic.
8. “The word author and
authority go hand in
hand.” --Betsy Byers
What do you think??
9. CREDIBILITY / AUTHORITY
Who is the author?
What are his or her credentials? Education? Experience? Affiliation?
Does the author’s experience really qualify him or her as an expert?
Does he or she offer first-hand credibility? (For instance, a Iraq
veteran or a witness to 9-11?)
Who actually published this page?
Is this a personal page or is it part of the site belonging to a major
institution? (Clues pointing to a personal page: ~ (tilde), %, users,
members)
10. Look for credibility clues!
• Words and phrases to look for:
–About us, Who Am I, FAQs, For
More, Company Information,
Profiles, Our Staff, Home
• E-mail the author
–If you have no information other than an e-mail
link, write a polite e-mail asking for more
information.
11. What do others think?
Do a link check
1. Find out what other web pages link to this page.
–a. Use alexa.com URL information:
–Simply paste the url into alexa.com's search box.
–You will see, depending on the volume of traffic to the page:
–Traffic rank
–Subjective reviews
–"Site statistics" including some page history, sites that link to the
page
–Contact/ownership info for the domain name
link:siteaddress
12. Use a Directory
Look the page up in a reputable directory that
evaluates its contents.
(Librarians Index to the Internet, Infomine, About.com,
Academic Info , or a specialized directory you trust).
INSTRUCTIONS: Go to the directory and search for
the title of the site you are investigating. Look for the
publisher if you can't find a specific page from a larger
site.
13. ACCURACY:
•Can facts, statistics, or other information be verified
through other sources?
•Based on your knowledge, does the information seem
accurate? Is the information inconsistent with information
you learned from other sources?
•Is the information second hand? Has it been altered?
•Do there appear to be errors on the page (spelling,
grammar, facts)?
14. RELIABILITY:
Does the source present a particular view or bias?
Is the page affiliated with an organization that has a particular
political or social agenda?
Is the page selling a product?
Can you find other material to offer balance so that you can see the
bigger picture?
Was the information found in a paid placement or sponsored
result from the search engine?
Information is seldom neutral. Sometimes a bias is useful for
persuasive essays or debates.
Understanding bias is important!
15. DATE
:
•When was this information created?
•When was it revised?
•Are these dates meaningful in terms of your information
needs?
•Has the author of the page stopped maintaining it?
•(Be suspicious of undated material.)
16. SOURCES BEHIND THE TEXT:
•Were those references popular, scholarly, reputable?
•Did the author bother to document his or her sources? use
reliable, credible sources?
•Are those sources real? Have you or your librarian heard of
or been able to verify them?
•Is the material reproduced (accurately) from another
publication?
•What kind of links did the author choose?
•Are the hyperlinks reliable, valuable?
•Do the links work?
17. S COPE / PURPOSE:
•Does this source address my hypothesis/thesis question
in a comprehensive or peripheral way?
•Is it a scholarly or popular treatment?
•Is it material I can read and understand?
•Is it too simple? Is it too challenging?
•Who is the intended audience?
•Why was this page created? To inform or explain? To
persuade? To sell?
18. RELEVANCE
:
•Does this information directly support
my hypothesis/thesis or help to answer
my question?
•Can I eliminate or ignore it because it
simply doesn’t help me?
19. There are bigger questions in life!
You will constantly be using information to
make important decisions!
Which car/laptop should I buy?
Which college/phone should I choose?
You want to be able to ensure the information you
choose is reliable, credible, current, balanced,
relevant, and accurate!
20. Just as you evaluate
your sources . . .
Your teacher will evaluate your work based on the
quality of the sources you select.
Evaluate carefully.
Don’t settle for good enough!
Quality always counts!
