November 1997

Contents of Discussion

• Introduction
• Overview
• Five Traditional Evaluation Criteria
• Other Criteria to Consider
• Types of Web Pages and Problems Each Presents
• Other Sites Dealing with the Evaluation of Web Sites
• Applying Evaluation Techniques to Types of Web Resources
• Citing Web Sources

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ntroduction

To be a critical World Wide Web user, you should be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Internet as a research tool. The Web is a great place to find basic factual information such as financial statistics or the address of a member of Congress. It also tends to be more current than print sources, so it is an excellent source for recent or even breaking news stories.

For in-depth research, however, the Web generally offers little of value. Most copyrighted materials are not available for free on the Internet. This includes the full text of most journals and books or similar material. Some older books in the public domain are available full text, and some journals do allow access to some of their articles. But the vast majority of information on any given subject will not be found on the Internet, so it cannot be used as a substitute for the library. Nevertheless, as a supplement to library research, the Web can offer some interesting sites with good information.

If you do decide to use the Web for research, you must learn to judge whether the information you find comes from credible or objective sources. Especially when searching for information on explosive issues such as abortion or racism, it is important to be aware of slanted viewpoints or questionable statistics.

But how does one tell just by looking at a Web page whether it is an informative, reliable site? Tate and Alexander at Widener University have developed a lesson plan for teaching students critical evaluation skills for World Wide Web resources. In it, they discuss the five criteria used for evaluating traditional print sources and how these criteria may be applied to Web Sources. These traditional criteria are accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverge.

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verview

• Strengths of the Web as a research tool

  • Good for basic, factual information such as financial statistics or addresses.
  • More current than print sources.
  • Can expand the library's resources beyond what it physically contains. (Offers access vs. ownership).

Weaknesses of the Web as a research tool

• Not very useful for in-depth research.
• Much of the information is of questionable authority.
• Difficult to find specific information.
• Copyrighted material is usually not available.

The Need to Evaluate Web Source

• The Web is a new information source that creates particular problems for students doing resesarch.
• Users of the Web must be able to think critically in order to decide if the information is reliable.
• Traditional methods for evaluation can still be used, but there are some new techniques as well.

Internet Research Guides

• Many libraries offer online research guides created by librarians to help guide students to useful Internet resources.
• Often these contain bibliographies of print resources as well, just to remind students that everything is not available online.

Search Engines: Most automated search engines look only for keywords which is not the same as evaluating.

• Do Search Engines evaluate the sources they point to?

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ive Traditional Evaluation Criteria

• Accuracy: How reliable is the information?

  Almost anyone can publish on the Web.

  Most Web sites are not verified by editors or fact checkers.

  You can usually verify accuracy by who authored the site. (See next criteria).

Authority: Who is the author? (Sometimes difficult to determine on the Web).

Can the author be contacted?

Are there biographical information and/or qualifications available?

Who sponsors the site?

Is the relationship between the author and sponsor clear?

Objectivity: Is the site being used as a "Virtual Soapbox"?

What kind of group is the sponsoring organization?

Are they trying to sway your opinion?

The goals of the group presenting the information are often not clear.

If the group is questionable, verify the information elsewhere.

Currency: How up-to-date is the information?

Is the date clearly noted?

Does the date mean when the work was produced, when it was first published on the Web or the last update?

Coverage: What topics are included in the work?

Does the Web page compare to print sources on the same subject?

Are the topics explored in-depth?

Do links to related information or cited sources work, and what types of information pages do they access?

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ther Criteria to Consider

• Content: Is the information useful and accurate?

  • Look for poor spelling, grammar, and composition.
  • Are graphics appropriate for the content?
  • Does it seem doubtful or does it "ring true"?

Organization: How is material presented?

• Are Web pages cluttered or difficult to use?
• Is pertinent information near the top or buried under many links?

Accessibility: How reliable is the Web site?

• Pages should be consistently available for verification.
• Is there a text-only option?
• Are there many dead links?

Search engine available?

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ypes of Web Pages and Problems Each Presents

Note: Information of this section is provided by Marsha Tate and Janet Alexander of the Widener University.

• Advocacy Web Pages: Sponsored by an organization trying to influence public opinion or sell an idea. (.org)
  

  Examples:

  • Political party Web pages
  • National Right-to-Life Association (www.nrlc.org)
  • NRA, PETA, etc. (www.nra.org)(www.envirolink.org/arrs/peta)

Business/Marketing Web Pages: Sponsored by a commercial enterprise. It usually exists to sell or promote a product. (.com)

Examples:

• Netscape (www.netscape.com)
• Federal Express (www.fedex.com)
• State Farm Insurance (www.statefarm.com)

Informational Pages: Sponsored by educational institutions or the government. They usually present factual information, and can be excellent sources for Web research. (.edu or .gov)

Examples:

• Dictionaries
• Statistics (www.census.gov)
• Financial Date (www.sec.gov)

News Web Pages: Sponsored by a commercial enterprise, and often includes advertising. They provide very current information. (.com)

Examples:

• New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
• CNN (www.cnn.com)
• Daily News Journal (www.dnj.com)

Personal Home Pages: Published by an individual with biographical and personal information. They usually have a tilde (~) in the address, and can have any domain: .edu, .gov, .com, etc.

Example:

• Kristin Kubly (www.mtsu.edu/~kkubly/homepage.html)

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ther Sites Dealing With the Evaluation of Web Sites

Listed below are some other sites that deal with the evaluation of Web sites. Please refer to them for more information on this subject:

• "Teaching Critical Evaluation Skills for World Wide Web Resources." (Marsha Tate and Janet Alexander)

• "Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources." (Esther Grassian)

• "Evaluating Information Found on the Internet." (Elizabeth E. Kirk)

• "Evaluating World Wide Web Information." (Ann Scholz)

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pplying Evaluation Techniques to Types of Web Resources

• Identify type of Web page.
• Use appropriate checklist developed by Marsha Tate and Janet Alexander at Widener University.
• The more "yes" answers, the higher the quality of the Web page.

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iting Web Sources

• MLA Style Citation:

  Walker, Janice R. "MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources."

• APA Style Citation:

  Walker. "APA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources."

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