Rationale

• An academic research resource next to an amateur project • Scholarly articles next to conspiracy theories • Up-to-date teaching web pages next to out-of-date course materials • A university professor's website next to a school student's journal

Your Google search results might list:

• Anyone can put material on the Internet - amateur or an expert• From anywhere in the World - Toronto or Timbuktu• They can say anything they like - true or false• And leave it there as long as they like - even if it goes out of date• Or change it without warning - even remove it completely

Why does the quality of information vary so much?

Rationale

authors of a book or article have checked & referenced their work, an editor double-checked it, a publisher decided it was good enough to publish, a reviewer commented on it (peer-review process) then a librarian & faculty thought it or the article database or e-journal or e-

book collection containing it, was good enough to select for the library.

How the Internet compares with a Library’s online resources ?

It's up to you to judge what is trustworthy!

A library’s resources have been checked at least three times by different people:

With Internet resources

Evaluation Criteria for Internet Resources

Questions to think critically, sometimes suspiciously about these Internet resources

Techniques to quickly find out what you need to know about internet resources

Authority Who & Where

Currency When?

Objectivity

What? & How?Accuracy

Coverage

Purpose Why &How?

Recognition What do others say?

AUTHORITY WHO? & WHERE?

Is there an author identified? Is it somebody’s personal page? Who is the publisher or sponsor of the

page? Can you verify the credentials or

contact information of the author and sponsor?

Which country is the information coming from?

Questions to Ask

AUTHORITY WHO? & WHERE?

URL Domain and Location.ac, .edu academic or educational servers .co, .com commercial servers .gov government servers .org non-governmental, non-profit making organisations

Techniques

UK government

Author's name Organisation name

( a header or footer)

About Us Background

Contact Details (address / phone number / email)

CURRENCY WHEN?

When was the information originally produced? Is it still useful? Has the page been updated? Is it going to be updated? By whom? How current are the site’s links?

Questions to Ask

CURRENCY WHEN?

Techniques

A last updated or last modified date at the foot of the home page

•Current links

•Factual information is dated

•A publication date

OBJECTIVITY WHAT?

Does the author or publisher display bias or advocate one view point

Is it a narrow range of information or a comprehensive resource?

If there is a narrow focus, has relevant and sufficient evidence been presented or just a few anecdotes or emotional examples?

If alternative views are addressed, how fairly does the author treat opposing views?

Does the site use inflammatory or provocative language?

Does any advertising influence the content?

Questions to Ask

ACCURACY WHAT?

Can factual information be verified using other sources?

Does the work list links or references to print or library database sources, which will allow you to check the sources which the author has made use of?

Does it link to external reputable sources?

Are there any distortions, dubious data or stereotypes presented?

Questions to Ask

ACCURACY WHAT?

Techniques

•reputable sources

•comprehensive bibliography

•references to print sources

COVERAGE WHAT?

What topics are covered in the work?

What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere?

How in-depth is the material?

What time period is covered by the work?

Is the page under construction? ( By the time it finishes, information may change)

Questions to Ask

PURPOSE WHY?

Who is the site’s intended audience?

Why was the site created:

advocate or argue a position?

sell a product?

inform readers?

parody a person or organization?

Questions to Ask

PURPOSE WHY?

For the actual White House history visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/

RECOGNITION WHAT DO OTHERS SAY?

What do others say about the author or responsible publisher/sponsoring body?

Who links to the page? Are there many links?

What do they say?

Questions to Ask

RECOGNITION WHAT DO OTHERS SAY?

“Google” the author’s name Do a link: search in Google • Use: www.alexa.com enter the URL into the search box. Click on “overview”

Techniques

HANDS-ON-EXERCISES

Course: HIST125 Contemporary World from World War II to the PresentResearch Essay: Topic - #31 What were the ideas & methods of Martin Luther King Jr.?Requirements:The basic principle in writing analytical essays is to use good source

material,that is scholarly source material… Use at least 3 books as well as articles, the Internet & primary sources

Using the criteria discussed above, evaluate two internet sources on our essay topic?Refer to the exercises sheet for instructions

EXERCISE SUMMARY

Looking at the above exercises, both websites are returned on the first page of a Google search Both use the same domain code i.e. “.org”. Both sources reflect the biases and motivations of their sponsoring

organizations. Yet after applying the evaluation criteria, such as Authority,

Currency, Accuracy & Objectivity, we can clearly identify the King Center website as the source with the most relevent, reliable and scholarly information for our research topic.

CONCLUSION & FURTHER RESOURCES

In combination with using critically evaluated internet resources, remember to consult the Library’s web pages for books and journal articles for all your History research papers.

Refer to session web page for: notes on this session, this power point presentation, and a list of

further resources, links, and references.

http://people.okanagan.bc.ca/mward/eval.htm

For further assistance, ask a librarian

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