| In general, internet users must
exercise much greater care in evaluating the
quality and appropriateness of the documents they
find than they would if using a traditional,
scholarly, print publication. This stems
principally from the fact that anyone with access
to a computer on the internet, equipped software
necessary to have it act as a "server",
can create a web page and make it available to
the all other users on the internet. |
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The following sections will outline
some of the major issues to keep in mind when
evaluating an internet-based document for
learning and research.
Additional resources that provide further
background are also available, including how to
cite or "reference"
documents
found on
the internet. |
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Issues to
consider
| Type of
site |
- Determine
the type of page/site you are
reviewing. Is it a scholarly
document, a personal web page, an
advertisement, entertainment
etc.?
- What
are the goals/aims of the author
in creating the page/site?
- Is
the information likely to be
biased in any way?
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| Quality |
- Does
the author of the page/site have
credibility? What evidence do
they give of competence in the
area they're discussing? Do they
work for a reputable
organization?
- How
do the data and conclusions
presented compare with other
sources you've consulted?
- Are
references (i.e. citations) given
to substantiate the conclusions
drawn?
- Has
the page/site been reviewed by
the other knowledgable
individuals to ensure standards
of quality?
- Has
the page/site been reviewed by
one of the Internet reviewing
services (e.g. Magellan)?
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| Currency
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- When
was the page/site first created?
When was it last updated? Does
the page/site appear to be
updated regularly?
- Are
the data and conclusions
presented likely to be
out-of-date or recent enough to
still be valid? Documents in a
rapidly advancing scientific area
could be out-of-date or simply
wrong within a year of
creation.
- Check
to see if all the links on the
page are still active. Numerous
inactive links suggest the
page/site is not well
maintained.
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| Reliability
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- If
you are going to refer to the
document (or site) in a
prominent way in your work, can
you be sure it will remain
available for some time? A
government web site is much more
likely to be maintained for some
years than that for a small
company.
- Are
there mirror sites? In other
words, is the page/site
duplicated at several locations
on the internet for
ease-of-access?
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