Evaluating Web Resources

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Evaluating Web Resources

• Compiled By
• Jenny
• Robinson

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Outline

• Information Criteria
• About the Author
• Citing Sources and Facts
• Currency
• Addresses
• Bibliography Page

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Information Criteria

• Is the information provided relevant to your
  research topic?
• Does the information meet your specific need?
• Who wrote or published the information?
• Why did you choose this particular piece of
  information?

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About the Author

• Most creditable pages should have
• Author's Name
• Author's Title or Position
• Author's Organizational Affiliation
• Date of Page Creation or Version
• Author's Contact Information

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Citing Sources and Facts 1

• Sources and Support
• Much information, especially statistics and
  claims of fact, comes from other sources.
• Citing sources strengthens the credibility of the
  information. (Remember this when you write a
  research paper.)
• What sources did the information creator use?
• Is the site produced by a reputable organization?
  

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Citing Sources and Facts 2

• Sources and Support
• Are the sources listed?
• Is there a bibliography or other documentation?
• It is especially important for statistics to be
  documented.
• Are additional sources of information provided?

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Currency

• What is the date of the information?
• When was the page last updated?
• Are links current and reliable?
• Do the charts and/or graphs have dates?
• A very credible writer could have said something
  that was correct twenty years ago, and it may not
  be correct today.

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Addresses

• One clue that will help with more complex
  addresses is the last three letters of the URL
• .org Indicates a nonprofit organization.
• .com Indicates a commercial enterprise
• .edu Indicates a school or university
• Outside the U.S., web addresses may end in a
  country designation. French websites end in
  ".fr", German in ".de" and so on.

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Bibliography

• Searching the Web. Online Internet Available.
  http//www.wku.edu/Library/web-eval.htm
• Harris, Robert. "Evaluating Internet Research
  Sources." 17 November 1997. Online. Internet.
  August 31, 1999. Available.http//www.vanguard.e
  du/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
• Evaluating Web Resources. 1998 New Horizons for
  Learning. Online Internet Available.
  http//www.newhorizons.org/trm_evaluate.html