Evaluating Internet Sources

^{It
is very important that you learn to critically evaluate web sources. It is
far easier to publish to the web then it is to get a book published, there
is no editor or lawyer checking facts. If you get a source from a library or
use your textbook, someone checked to see it met agreed upon standards. Web
publishing does not require any of these steps be taken. When you look a
site, here are some things to check for to ensure that the information you
obtain is truthful and accurate.}

^{Is
there an author listed on the page? Does it give you links to his home
page? Can you tell if he has good credentials for posting this
information?}
^{Did
you check the information you found here against your own general
knowledge or knowledge of the topic gained elsewhere? Remember if you
can find errors, there are probable more that you haven’t spotted.}
^{Is
the page affiliated to an organization? If you are looking at abortion
as a topic, information obtained from NOW will be a lot different then
that obtained from a site associated with National Right to Life. Both
sites will be interested in making a point.}
^{Does
the information on the page correspond to information that you have
found elsewhere? If so, then the page is probably a good one, especially
if it is linked from a page you have already found useful.}
^{Does
the page list a date it was created and the date it was last updated? If
you need current information, a web page that was created and last
updated five years ago will not be very helpful.}
^{Finally,
if you are still not sure, ask your parents or teachers for a second
opinion.}

^{Make
sure that you get the bibliographic information needed to cite this source
in the paper. Generally you will need to include the title of the
page, the URL, author if supplied, affiliation of the page if any and date
of access. To make sure that the bibliographic citation is correct,
please use Noodlebib5.}