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RESEARCH TUTORIAL CONTENTS
Select a Topic
Find Background
Information
Find Books
Find Articles
Find Web Sites
Evaluating Web
Sites
Citing Sources
 MLA
APA
Chicago
(Turabian)
Get Help
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Thinking critically about the information you use is essential,
especially in the research process. It is important to evaluate
all sources of information - books, periodicals, videos,
etc., but it is especially important with Internet sources
of information. Why? Simply put, there is no quality control
on the Internet. Anyone with a computer and access to the
Web can publish a web site. So a search on genetically modified
foods, for example, could lead you to an online bookstore
selling books on the topic, or to a high school student's
paper, as well as scholarly reports from a university or other
institution.
With books and periodicals, there is some quality control.
Books and articles in periodicals undergo an editing process,
while articles in scholarly journals often are peer-reviewed.
None of this is true with Internet sources, which means it's
up to you to carefully evaluate online information for authority,
accuracy, currency, objectivity and coverage.
Here are some questions to ask and strategies for evaluation:
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| AUTHORITY |
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Questions to ask:
- Who wrote the information?
- What are the author's credentials, background or
training?
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Strategies:
- Look for the author's name.
- Are there any credentials listed?
- Is the author affiliated with an educational institution,
think tank or government agency?
- Try searching for other books or articles by the
author. Do a Google search on the author's name.
- If there isn't an individual author, look for information
on the organization producing the site - look for
a ink that says "about us."
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| ACCURACY |
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Questions to ask:
- Does the information appear to be free from obvious
errors?
- Is there evidence of fact checking or review by
reliable individuals or organizations?
- How does this information compare to what other
authors have written and what you've learned about
the topic?
- Does the author provide citations to sources, such
as footnotes and a bibliography or works cited?
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Strategies:
- Look for obvious grammatical or spelling errors.
- Compare the information to other credible sources,
such as books, encyclopedias and journal articles.
- Look for citations to sources and links to other
sites.
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| CURRENCY |
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Questions to ask:
- How recent is the information?
- Newer may not always be better, but it's important
to consider recent scholarship on your research topic.
Important advances or events may have occurred that
might have a significant impact on how your topic
is viewed.
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Strategies:
- Look for a date the information was created or last
updated.
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| OBJECTIVITY |
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Questions to ask:
- What is the purpose of the web site - to sell, inform,
persuade, entertain?
- Is there an obvious bias or slant?
- Is the information someone's opinion or is it supported
by well reasoned arguments and examples?
- Does the information provide differing points of
view or is it one-sided?
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Strategies:
- Look at the language used. Is it inflammatory, obviously
biased?
- Analyze the author's conclusions to see if they
are supported by his or her arguments or reasoning.
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| COVERAGE |
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Questions to ask:
- Does the information fall within the scope of your
research question?
- How complete and in-depth is the information?
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Strategies:
- Refer to your assignment to see if the source meets
the assignment's guidelines
- Compare the information to ofther sources of information
on the topic.
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