High Library
Elizabethtown College
http://www2.etown.edu/library/evaluate.html
The Internet is a vast source of information, some scholarly and/or reliable, and some not. When using Internet sources for a research paper, you must use the same criteria you would for print sources, and make every attempt to find scholarly and reliable information. Here are some things you can look for when evaluating a web page.
Indications of author/sponsor credibility:
The author of the page is known.
The author has education, training and experience is in a field relevant to the topic.
The sponsoring organization (educational, governmental, nonprofit or corporate) is known and respected.Indications of accuracy:
Factual information can be verified in other sources.
There are no obvious spelling, grammatical or other errors.
The site indicates what information, processes or procedures were used to reach a conclusion.Indications of objectivity and reasonableness:
The tone of writing is balanced and reasoned. The site is free from inflammatory language or strong bias.
Other points of view are presented.
The author appears to be fair-minded and objective, or clearly states bias and opinion.
Data is carefully interpreted whether the analysis supports or refutes a premise.
There is no conflict of interest between the sponsoring organization and the research results.Indications of scholarly support:
Sources are listed in a bibliography.
The author or organization provides contact information.
Statistics and facts are well documented.
There are diagrams, tables, illustrations, etc. to support the text.Indications of depth:
The topic covered at length.
The site has substantial textual content as opposed to being mostly a collection of links.
The information goes beyond the obvious information known to most people.
Updated 01/06
One Alpha Dr., Elizabethtown, PA 17022