Evaluating Information Found on Web Sites

Why evaluate material found on the Web?
Not all information found on the Web is reliable. Anyone can put anything on a Web site for any purpose, including to promote hoaxes and other types of misleading information. Although all the tips listed here may not apply, they are basic ideas to consider when determining if a Web site might provide information appropriate to your topic.

Accuracy:
Why was it written? Is it advertising a product or an ideology? Is it based on the author's opinions or does the information represent research results? Check for author/organizational bias in the presentation of the information. Does the author cite his/her sources? Do the links work and are they connected to sites with information that is credible?

Authorship:
Who wrote it? What are the credentials of the author? Is the document signed? What affiliations does the author have? Is it possible to contact the author?

Currency of Information:
When was it written and last updated? Is current information important in your field? In history, for example, having the most current information is not always critical, but in business or in the sciences using the most up to date information is often crucial.

Presentation of Information
Does the page work? Is the design useful and easy to understand? Is it grammatically correct? Although the quality of the design is not necessarily an indicator of the quality of the content, it might indicate the amount of care that went into putting the page together, including the information presented.

Relevancy to your Research
Are the Web pages relevant to your own research? Does it cover your topic thoroughly or only a part of your subject matter? Finally, you might want to take a look at the website put up by New Mexico State University on this topic at: http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html.

Library Tutorial:
Using the Catalog | Finding Books | Finding Articles | Using the Web for Research