Evaluating Internet Resources

1. Evaluating Internet Resources By Amy V. Cummings Library Media Specialist

2. What are the signs that a Web site is not reliable? • Bias • Inappropriate Material • Dated Information • Inaccurate Information • Grammatical and Typographical Errors

3. How do you determine if a site is acceptable? • Who is responsible for the page? Look for links such as “about this site.” • Who is the intended audience? • What is it? Is it someone’s school project, short story, advertisement, or personal site? (.gov, .edu, .org?) • How thoroughly is the topic covered? • Are references or a bibliography given to credit the information on the site? • When was the site last updated?

4. Examples of what you should avoid: • http://members.aol.com/mhirotsu/kevin/trip2.html The site is visually distracting and there are no links to check authorship. • http://www.comparativereligion.com At first this looks like a comprehensive site, but it’s actually written from one point of view. • http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html It looks reputable, but it is deceptive to the unsuspecting and inexperienced.

5. Examples of good sites: • http://www.mrdowling.com Although it is privately created and maintained, the information is accurate, often updated, and contact information is provided. • http://www.cdc.gov Government sites are usually safe sources of accurate information and reliable statistics. • http://www.chemicalelements.com It is easy to see who is responsible for this excellent site.

6. Resources for further study: • WebQuest about evaluating Web sites by Joyce Valenza http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.html • University at Albany Libraries “Evaluating Internet Resources” http://library.albany.edu/internet/evaluate.html • Kathy Schrock’s Critical Evaluation Information http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html • Lake Forest College Library “Evaluating Web Sites” http://www.lib.lfc.edu/internetsearch/evalweb.html