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EVALUATING WEBSITES |
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Because web resources rarely have
editors or fact-checkers |
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Because currently there are no web
standards to ensure accuracy or ethical use of information |
Before beginning to
evaluate websites, you should ask yourself these questions:
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Is the Internet the right place to
begin my research? |
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Could I find the information I
need in other places? If so, where? |
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Can I get the information faster
offline? |
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Have I checked the Library
Resource Centre resources that may be available? |
When you have determined
that a search of websites is appropriate for your inquiry, you need to evaluate
these sites. Evaluate the websites
for:
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Why should we believe what
we are reading? We should 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.
Some sites have more authority for the information they present than
others. A “FREE ESSAY” site
presents Shakespeare essays, for example, which are written by other students
who are often far less knowledgeable than the university teachers who prepare
other Shakespeare sites that therefore have more authority.
Look for:
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evidence that the authors and/or
maintainers of the site are authorities in their field |
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a clearly evident way you could
verify how legitimate the sponsor is, by phoning or writing, for example |
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copyright and a named copyright
holder |
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awards or commendations for the
web page |
If anyone can put any
information onto the internet, it is safe to assume that lots of websites
contain little more than junk information.
Your job is to evaluate how accurate the information is and therefore how
reliable the information on that site is. Look
for errors:
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in grammar and mechanics, as well as |
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in the factual content |
All sites offer a
particular perspective or point of view on the subject matter they present.
Sometimes, however, that perspective makes no attempt to be objective in
its treatment of the topic. A site
lacks objectivity if it attempts to persuade viewers to a particular opinion and
relies too heavily on:
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loaded
language or |
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unsubstantiated
opinion or |
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unbalanced
emotional appeals or |
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stereotypes. |
Again, as many sites have
been put up on the internet, it is important to know that someone is maintaining
the information and keeping it current or up-to-date.
Look for:
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dates:
when was it first put onto the web? When was is written? When was it
last updated or revised? |
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Does
it state how frequently the updates are planned? |
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Other
ways that you can see that it is being kept up-to-date is to look for
information you know is recent in the field or dates when data was gathered |
As
users of internet
sites, we also want to know how well or how completely they cover the topics
they claim to be about. You will also
be interested to determine at what level the material is presented.
Many sites are for users who are younger or more academic than you are
and so the sites are not appropriate for the task you have been assigned.
Assess whether:
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the
information seems to be complete, useful for your purposes, and ethical |
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the
information is consistent with what you already know or with what you are
finding in other sources |
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there
is information about the purpose or intended audience of the site |
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there
are links to other sites to support or enhance the information presented |
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The guidelines presented are taken
from The Ethics of Information Use: A Teacher’s Guide, a special
issue of School
Libraries in Canada, Vol. 20(4) and from an article in Emergency
Librarian, Vol. 25(5). |