RESEARCHChecking Reliable Sources

Why do I need to check if a website is reliable?

•Unlike most traditional written information, no one has to approve a website before it is put online.

•Anyone can create a website to inform, to persuade, and to sell.

Six Main Types of Websites

• Advocacy: To sway your opinion• Commercial: Tries to sell you something • Informational/Educational: Tries to give you facts

• Personal: Provides a forum for personal expression

• Entertainment: For your amusement • News: Provides news and current events

Examine the end or suffix of the domain name:

•The suffix identifies who the source of information is and, therefore, what their purpose is in conveying that information.

Examples of Domain Suffixes• .com – A commercial site. Purpose to sell a product or service. May have a built-in bias that you must be aware of.

• .biz – A business that could be trying to sell a product or service. May have built-in bias.

• .edu – A school, university, museum, or educational site. Normally reliable.

• .gov – A U.S. government site. Normally reliable.

• .int – An international institution. Normally reliable.

Examples of Domain Suffixes (cont)• .mil – A U.S. military site. Normally reliable.• .museum – A museum. Often reliable• .name – An individual Internet user. Not reliable and may have bias

• .net – A network service provider, Internet administrative site.

• .org – An organization, often non-profit. These sites can provide accurate information, but usually have bias.

• .pro – A professional’s site. • ~ (tilde) or % – A personal site that varies in its credibility

How to tell if a website is accurate and reliable:

Five criteria to use when evaluating a website:

1.) Accuracy2.) Authority3.) Objectivity

4.) Currency (Timelines)

5.) Adequacy (Coverage)

Accuracy- Ask yourself these questions:

• Who wrote the page and can you contact him or her? • If a person doesn’t want to claim their own work, do you really want to use it as research?

• What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced? • Was this page written to sell me something, persuade me, or to inform me?

Accuracy- Ask yourself these questions: (cont.)

• Is this person qualified to write this document? • When researching genocide, a person who has

their doctorate may be more qualified to write about the subject than a freshman in high school.

• Is the author connected with an organization or affiliation? • For example, if you are doing research on President

Obama’s efforts for improving international human rights, you may not want an author who has ties to a left or right extremist group.

Authority – Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who published the document and is it separate from the "Webmaster?"

• Check the domain of the document, what institution publishes this document? • A lot of universities have their staff create websites on their schools server. So a page that has harvard.edu may be a reliable source.

Authority – Ask yourself the following questions: (cont.)

• Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?

• What are the credentials listed by the Author? • If you are looking up information on the United States response to international Genocide, a Political Science Professor may be a more reliable source than an Art Professor.

Objectivity – Ask yourself these questions:

• What goals/objectives does this page meet? • Is the website really an advertisement masked as information?

• Are there a lot of ads on the page?

• How detailed is the information?

Objectivity – Ask yourself these questions: (cont.)

• What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?

• Does the author present all opposing viewpoints to an issue or just one?

Currency (Timeliness) – Ask yourself these questions:

• Is there a date on the website?

• Is the date when it was updated or created? • If a website was created in 1995 and hasn’t been updated since then, it may not be the best information.

Currency (Timeliness) – Ask yourself these questions: (cont.)

• Does the site have a lot of dead links? • If a site doesn’t have a date, but has a lot of dead links, then it is a pretty good indication that the site hasn’t been updated recently.

• How current does my information need to be? • Be mindful if you are seeking historical facts or more recent information.

Adequacy – Ask yourself these questions:

• What topics are covered?

• What does this page offer that isn’t found anywhere else?

• How in-depth is the material?

Note: Scholarly Journals• Scholarly or peer-reviewed journals have collections of

articles written by experts in academic or professional

fields.

• Their intended audience is other scholars and

professionals.

• Journals are excellent for finding out what has been

studied or researched on a topic and to find bibliographies

that point to other relevant sources of information.

• Try searching: scholar.google.com