Evaluating What You've Found

Finding information on the Internet is one thing. Evaluating the information is another. Anyone with an Internet account and a basic understanding of HTML can create their own pages for the world to see. Although this makes the Web a wonderful arena for the exchange of ideas, there is no guarantee that this information is reliable or accurate. To help evaluate information on the Internet Jan Alexander and Marsha Tate at Widener University suggest using the traditional criteria we apply to print information. These criteria include:

• Accuracy: Is the information reliable and free from errors? When in doubt check information against other resources.

• Authority: Who is the author, and is he/she qualified to write about the topic? If you can't find the author's name or credentials, check to see if there is a link to the author's web page or to a sponsoring organization or publisher. A page's domain name (e.g., .edu, .gov, .com) can sometimes be a clue.

• Objectivity: Is there evidence of bias or overt attempts to persuade? Who is the audience and what is the purpose of the page? Is the information provided by an organization or company that may have an agenda? Alexander and Tate recommend using the same critical eye we use to evaluate infomercials and advertisements.

• Currency: How up-to-date is the information? Are links from the page outdated? One place to start is to see if the page includes information about when it was first written and last modified.

• Coverage: How comprehensive is the information provided and what is its value compared to other resources? What is the quality of pages linked to from the site? When evaluating a page's coverage, keep in mind that you may reach a web page that is taken out of context. Always try to go to the home page for the site to get an idea of what information is provided.

The above criteria are not fail-safe, but they are a good start for evaluating information on the Web. The most important tool we bring to the Web is our common sense.