Websites

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Websites

• The Ultimate Authority?

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Is everything on the Internet true?

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• NO!!!!

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If its not all true

• how do you tell a trustworthy website from one
  thats not reliable, even if it looks cool?

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Think of the five Ws!Who What When
Why Where
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WHO

• Who sponsored or created the site? Why? (for what
  purpose?)  
• If you know this, you can make intelligent
  assessments about any potential bias (For
  example if the NRA publishes a site on Gun
  Control, the point of view or bias for or against
  the issue would be different, perhaps, to an
  article published in a web site with a focus on
  Parenting)  
• Also related  to bias or perspective are issues
  of authenticity and credibility -- is the
  information true, accurate and believable? (For
  example, usage statistics for a new drug might be
  more reliable coming from a government web site
  rather than those offered by its manufacturer)  
  
• A quick clue as to the source of a web site is
  the domain (in the url or "address") (For
  example .edu means either an educational or
  affiliated institution, .com means commercial
  enterprise (which may have a financial reason for
  promoting a product or site), .gov means
  government agency ,and .org means organization)
   

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http//onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.
html
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WHAT

• What is the goal of the website?
• Is it to give people facts, or is it trying to
  sell something? Is the website made to inform or
  to persuade?
• Is the web site you're looking at made to help
  people do research or talk them into buying
  something?

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WHEN

• When was the web site created? Does the web
  site say when it was last updated?
• Are the links to other sites still working? If
  they're not, you can guess that the author is not
  working on this web page anymore and the rest of
  the information might be out of date, too.
• Most well tended sites will clearly state when
  the content was last updated. Sometimes frequent
  updating is essential (for example, at news sites
  or where the information changes rapidly).
  Sometimes this is not a priority -- such as with
  online texts or with historical or archival data.
  

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WHY

• Why is this information useful to you? Does it
  answer your questions? Or is the information not
  really related to your research?
• The best information in the world is not useful
  if it doesn't answer the questions that YOU have.
  Maybe you need to look for another site that
  discusses what you are looking for.

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Criteria for Evaluating a Good Website

• Can you move from page to page?
• Are there good use of graphics and color?
• Are there additional links and resources
  included?
• Is the information is useful?
• Do all links work?
• Can you navigate and see meaningful info within
  30 seconds?
• Is there contact information stated?
• Does the page include the date it was last
  updated?