Evaluating On-line and Printed Resources
Researchers have always been concerned with using valid sources in their work. Originally research mainly involved the investigation of printed matter, thus determining the credibility of sources was pretty straightforward. Since the advent of the Internet, however, determining what counts as a valid source has become more complicated.
While the Internet has made researching more convenient by offering easy access to a wide range of information, it has also muddied the waters for researchers as they attempt to determine the validity of source material. For instance, unless a site is maintained by a well-known organization, it has probably not been reviewed or edited. In this case, the site is more likely to represent the views of a particular individual or group and less likely to provide information that is well researched and credible. Since anyone can create a website, it’s sometimes difficult to know how to read and evaluate the information.
Why Do I Need to Evaluate What I Find on the Web?
· The Web is a vast, disorganized mass of resources of varying quality and reliability.
· It contains over 800 million individual Web pages.
· 83% of these pages are commercial in nature.
· Only 6% are educational or academic.
· No editorial control, meaning anyone can publish anything, whether fact, interpretation, or complete fabrication.
You must critically evaluate anything you find on the Web in order to determine its reliability as an information source. When evaluating a Web site, ask yourself this question: Would this site be an acceptable source for a research paper?
Pre-evaluation
Before beginning research, you should make some decisions. Is your purpose to expose new ideas, support a certain viewpoint, show varying opinions on a topic, or something else? After answering these questions, you can decide which types of sources will help you the most. Do you want informative, opinionated, scientific, or other kinds of sources? When you have clearly defined your goals, you are ready to begin actually researching your topic.
Evaluate What You Have Found
As you find information, it is important to critically evaluate that information before using it in a paper. Everything you find should be evaluated. You should evaluate all books, television or radio program transcripts, interviews with individuals, journal articles, and Internet sites to make sure they are reliable and to recognize any biases present.
It is often appropriate to use sources that advocate a specific point of view, but you need to make sure that you understand and account for the biases shown. For example, in a paper about the pros and cons of gun control, you may want to cite materials from the National Rifle Association and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. These two groups will give you vastly different perspectives on the issue and a different "spin" on the same set of facts.
It is your job to analyze materials and decide how to use them in your paper. To help you do this, ask these questions:
· Who is the author?
What are the author's credentials - education, past writings, or experience - in the area? Is the author associated with an institution or organization? What are the values or goals of that group? If it is an on-line source, what are its links?
· Is the information accurate?
Are factual statements and statistics verifiable? Does the material contain footnotes and/or a bibliography? For articles, have they been peer-reviewed?
· What is the purpose of the information?
Is it to inform, persuade, present opinion, report research, or sell something? Who is the intended audience? Does it show bias? Is the material popular or scholarly?
· Is the information timely?
When was the information published? Is the publication date important to the subject matter? Do you need to update the information using other sources?
Critical Thinking
· Above all else, think critically about any source of information you find - don’t take it at face value.
· If you’re not sure a source is reliable, try to verify its content using a source you know to be dependable.
How Can I Find Reliable Web Sites?
Look for "brand names": Web sites created by people or organizations that you recognize as credible sources.
Examples include: www.washingtonpost.com: (Washington Post)
britannica.com: (Encyclopedia Britannica)
www.census.gov: (United States Census Bureau)
Look at the site’s Web address (URL): In particular, examine the last three letters:
· .com = commercial Web sites. Maintained by companies to promote business or by individuals to promote themselves. Often provide reliable information, but not necessarily.
· .edu = colleges and universities. Most official pages are reliable sources, but look out for tildes (~) in the URL. This often indicates a student or staff member’s personal Web page, which can vary greatly in reliability. An example of a personal page URL would be <http://www.umich.edu/~ddurant/>.
· .gov = US Government Web sites. Offer similar content to what most agencies provide in print. Usually treated as acceptable sources for academic papers.
· .org = organizations (not necessarily non-profit). Often contain excellent information, but in support of a specific position or agenda. Analyze their content carefully.
Use a Web directory to find good sources of information on a particular topic.
· Organized collections of links to Web resources
· Created by people
· Browsable by subject or topic, searchable in some cases
· Items included according to evaluative criteria, including accuracy and reliability of information.
Some Web directories that you might find useful include:
· About.com: <http://www.about.com>
· Academic Info: <http://www.academicinfo.net>
· Argus Clearinghouse: <http://www.clearinghouse.net>
· Internet Public Library: <http://www.ipl.org>
More Online Resources
SEARCH ENGINES
AltaVista <http://www.altavista.digital.com>
Dogpile <http://www.dogpile.com>
Excite <http://www.excite.com>
HotBot <http://www.hotbot.com>
Infoseek <http://www.infoseek.com>
Lycos <http://www.lycos.com>
Metacrawler <http://www.metacrawler.com>
Yahoo! <http://www.yahoo.com>
WebFerret Program – available at <www.ferretsoft.com/netferret/index.html>
REFERENCE SITES
WWWebster Dictionary <http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm>
A Web of On-line Dictionaries <http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction1.html#special>
OneLook Dictionaries <http://www.onelook.com>
ARTFL Project: Roget’s Thesaurus Search Form <http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/ROGET.html>
Atlapedia Online <http://www.atlapedia.com>
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online <http://www.eb.com>
Encyclopedia Smithsonian <http://www.si.edu/resource/faq>
VIRTUAL LIBRARIES
Joyner Library <http://www.lib.ecu.edu>
The British Library <http://www.bl.uk/>
The Internet Public Library <http://ipl.org>
Thor+: The Libraries of Purdue University <http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/index.html>
The WWW Virtual Library <http://vlib.stanford.edu/Overview.html>
The Library of Congress <http://lcweb.loc.gov>
The Webliography: Internet Subject Guides <http://www.lib.lsu.edu/weblio.html>
TEXT ARCHIVES
Electronic Text Center—University of Virginia Library <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu>
Project Bartleby Archive <http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby>
Project Gutenberg <http://promo.net/pg>
GOVERNMENT SITES
U.S. Census Bureau: The Official Statistics <http://www.census.gov>
Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet <http://thomas.loc.gov>
U.S. State & Local Gateway <http://www.statelocal.gov>
U.S. Government Printing Office <http://www.access.gpo.gov>
United Nations <http://www.un.org>
NEWS SITES
The New York Times on the Web <http://nytimes.com>
The Washington Post http://washingtonpost.com>
U.S. News Online <http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm>
National Geographic <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/main.html>
CNN Interactive <http://www.cnn.com>
DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC SITES
Research/Documentation in the Electronic Age (various disciplines)
<http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc>
Bedford Links to Resources in Literature <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks>
Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research <http://humanitas.ucsb.edu>
H-net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online <http://h-net2.msu.edu>
Social Science Information Gateway <http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk>
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <http://plato.stanford.edu>
"Famous Paintings Exhibition," WebMuseum <http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/paint>
Perseus Project <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu>
Bedford/St. Martin’s Links to History Resources <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/history/historylinks.html>
Newsweek International Business Resource Center <http://www.newsweek-int.com>
Science Online <http://www.sciencemag.org>
Windows to the Universe <http://www.windows.umich.edu>
SITES FOR EVALUATING SOURCES
“What is This Stuff? Evaluating What You Find on the Web” <http://www.lib.ecu.edu/Reference/libraryi.html>
"Checklist for Evaluating Web Sites," Canisius College Library & Internet
<http://www.canisius.edu/canhp/canlib/webcrit.htm>
"Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools," Olin Kroch Uris Libraries
<http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html>
"Evaluating Internet Information," Internet Navigator <http://sol.slcc.edu/lr/navigator/discovery.eval.html >
Further Sources for Evaluating Web Sites
· Rutgers University Libraries, Evaluating World Wide Web Information,
<http://crab.rutgers.edu/~scholzcr/eval.html>
· University of California, Los Angeles, College Library, Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources, <http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/instruct/web/critical.htm>
· University of Michigan Undergraduate Library, What to Look For in a Website, < http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/UGL/research/evaluation/>
· World Wide Web Virtual Library, Evaluation of Information Sources,
<http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm>
*Courtsey of Joyner Library Reference
Exercise 1
Log on to the Internet. Type “www.whitehouse.org” in the address box and press enter. Read the full text article directed by the workshop leader and answer the following questions:
1. What does the title of the article tell you about its content? How does the title influence your first impression of the article and its credibility?
2. How do the images affect the credibility of the article?
3. Is there any specific language in the article that seems odd for a serious news story? Why?
4. What writing techniques, such as quotes or names of well-known people, are used to give the story validity?
5. What evidence is there outside of the article that you can use to determine if it is a valid source?
6. After considering your answers, do you feel that this is a valid source? Why?
Exercise 2
1. Browse the Internet and find what you feel is a valid source for your next project.
2. Exchange sources with you neighbor and answer the questions in exercise 1 using your neighbor’s source.
3. Return your answered questions to your neighbor.
5