Evaluating information on the www Holy Spirit Library Cabrini College www.cabrini.edu/library/ For Reference Assistance: 610.902.8568 or 610.902.8536

Evaluating information on the www Reasons to evaluate Guidelines for evaluating the information Types of web pages Anatomy of a url Evaluation Criteria

Reasons to evaluate Anyone can create a Web page advertise a product, service recreation, entertainment disseminate propaganda Facts and opinions are mixed Payment schemes Pay per click: Keywords auctioned to advertisers Pay per action: Advertisers pay only when a click results in an action.

Types of Web Pages Personal News Advocacy Informational (Specialized) individual’s information (~) .com, .name News most up to date information .com, .net Advocacy influence public opinion .org Informational (Specialized) presents factual/technical info .edu, .gov, museum, .aero, .mil, .pro Commercial/Business sells a product .com, ..net, .biz, .coop General general purpose use .info

Anatomy of a url http://www.whitehouse.net https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_human_shields/index.html The protocol: http:// The URL web server (domain): www.cia.gov The path of the document: library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_human_shields/ The file: index.html http://www.whitehouse.net

Five Criteria for Evaluating a Web Page Evaluation criteria Five Criteria for Evaluating a Web Page Authority Accuracy/Objectivity Currency Audience Purpose

Evaluation Criteria Authority Audience Accuracy Purpose Currency Who is the author or institution? Audience For whom is the page intended/written? Accuracy Is the content accurate, objective, and supported by other sources? Purpose What is the purpose of the web page? Currency How current is the information?

Authority Who is the author or institution? Is there biographical information about the author? If an institution has written the resource, does it give information about that institution, including its purpose, history, and street address? What clues does the URL give you about a source’s authority? (.edu, .gov, .com, .org., and so forth)

Accuracy/objectivity Is the content accurate and objective? Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, or institutional biases? If the information is opinion, is this clearly stated? If other sources have been used, is this acknowledged? Are there footnotes or references to these sources?

Audience Is the Web page intended for the general public, or is it meant for scholars, practitioners, children, and so forth? Does the Web page meet the needs of its stated audience?

Purpose What is the purpose of the page? Is the purpose of the information to inform, explain, persuade, market a product, or advocate a cause? Is the purpose clearly stated? Does the resource fulfill the stated purpose?

Currency How current is the information? Is there a date on the Web page that indicates when the page was placed on the Web? Is it clear when the page was last updated? Is some of the information obviously out-of-date? Does the page creator mention how frequently the material is updated?

Evaluating pages: Melville http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/melville.html http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Den/1151/melville/bartleby.htm http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/melville.html

Evaluating Web Sites http://www.martinlutherking.org/library.html http://www.peepresearch.org/ http://www.dhmo.org/ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ http://florin.syr.edu/webarch/domains.php3 Authority Who is the author or institution? Audience For whom is the page intended/written? Accuracy Is the content accurate, objective, and supported by other sources? Purpose What is the purpose of the web page? Currency How current is the information?