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Evaluating Web Resources
How reliable is the information found on the World Wide Web? To find out, Internet researchers can use these guidelines. Not every criteria must be met for a resource to be valuable, but more reliable sources are generally more accurate, authoritative, and current.
Checklist of Criteria for Web Document Evaluation
Accuracy - when evaluating accuracy, look for the following signs of unreliable information:
- obvious errors
- misleading omissions
- indications of careless or hasty preparation
- spelling or grammatical errors
Authority and Affiliation
authority - may also indicate the stability of the information - there is a better chance of reliability if the publisher is a well-established institution or corporation
affiliation - the identity of the institution, company, organization, government, university, or Internet provider that supports the information can indicate the nature of the document- is the identity and authority of the author or creator easy to identify (name, occupation, experience, position, education)?
- is the site clearly supported by a reliable sponsoring institution?
- if a commercial Internet provider, is the author connected with an institution?
- does the institution control quality and endorse the information provided on their site?
Objectivity and Bias
objectivity - all sides or alternative views of controversial issues presented
bias - unfair preference or prejudice for one side of an issue
With controversial issues, the author's bias may be clearly stated, but sometimes it can only be determined through careful content analysis.
Look for evidence of bias including:
- indications of gender or racial biases and stereotyping in text or graphics
- author/publisher has an established position on or commercial interest in the topic
- author's affiliation with a particular institution appears to bias the information
The purpose of the document may be to persuade:
- does the bias make the document unsuitable for your needs?
- keep in mind that some authors/publishers are known advocates of certain causes
Currency - when the information was created or last updated
- how recently was the information updated?
- is it clear what was updated?
- is it easy to determine the date of the data?
Coverage - description of the document's content
- is the mission, purpose, or scope and criteria for inclusion of information clearly stated?
- does the content match your needs?
- compare content with related sources (including those not online)
More Information & Definitions for researchers evaluating resources found on the web.
Web Page Components
Header
top of the page, identifies responsible organization
Body
content of the page between the header and footer
Footer
bottom of page, identifies author, date the page was updated, contact and copyright information
Home Page
introductory section of a web site, may be found by deleting all the information in the URL after the server name
(Uniform/Universal Resource Locator) the Web address (e.g., www.census.gov)
- provides clues as to whether the page is personal or part of an official site
- country codes include: .de (Germany), .uk (Britain), .jp (Japan)
- common United States Internet domains:
.com (commercial) |
.edu (educational) |
.gov (government) |
.mil (military) |
.net (Internet Service Provider) |
.org (non-profit) |
What Types of Literature are Found on the Web?
Like the traditional publishing industry, the web provides many types of literature.
Any of these types may contain information valuable to you:
- very scholarly/specific
- gray literature (scholarly research not yet published in print)
- public relations
- promotion/advertising
- vanity publishing
The last three types may be difficult to recognize on the web because their nature may be intentionally obscured by their creators.
Criteria for Evaluation of Web Resources
Summary:
A quality resource contains current, accurate facts presented by an authoritative author whose bias or objectivity is clearly stated. The information presented fits your needs.
A poor choice for quality might contain outdated data or inaccurate assumptions presented by an unidentifiable author whose bias is unacknowledged. Even worse, the information presented is not suited to your needs.