Evaluating Information on the Web
The very reason why the Web is the ultimate democratic medium-every voice can be heard unfiltered and uncensored-is why it also can be so unreliable. Unlike a news source or a scholarly journal, there is often no required editorial review, no fact-checking, no one verifying the accuracy of the resources on the Web. For this reason it is vital that you, the student, understand how to critically evaluate the reliability, value, and credibility of that information.
The links below offer comprehensive coverage for evaluating Web sites.
Evaluating Internet
Research Sources
by Robert Harris, Southern California College
A
comprehensive treatment that presents the CARS Checklist for
Research Source Evaluation (Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support).
The Good, The Bad &
The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
by Susan E.
Beck, Instruction Coordinator, New Mexico State University Library
A well-organized site that offers a checklist of evaluation criteria and clear examples
of both "good" and "bad" sites.
The following pages from Craig
Branham's A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW explore criteria for
evaluating Web sites and explain which types of sites are most and least
reliable.
Evaluating Web
Pages for Relevance
The Authority of a Web Site
Evaluating Web Sites for Accuracy
Web Page Types
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