Reference Shelf:
Evaluating Online ResourcesAll sorts of information can be found on the
Internet, including misinformation, false information, and sheer fabrication.
No central authority reviews and verifies the content of web pages on the
Internet. You as an individual are wholly responsible for evaluating the quality
and validity of the information presented. Assessing Internet information, based
on a few simple indicators can provide students in the humanities with constant
practice in thinking critically about the nature of research and evidence. To
prepare your students for this learning adventure, encourage them to evaluate
information on the Internet using these six criteria: 1
- Authorship: Who wrote this and what are the author's credentials? Most
websites identify the author - whether an individual or an institution - at the
foot of the home page.
- Publishing body: Where does the document
reside? A website's URL is the most reliable indicator of its publishing body.
Educational institutions have "edu" in their URLs. Non-profit organizations, such
as museums and public interest groups, have "org." Federal and state government
agencies usually have "gov" or "fed." Commercial entities, such as corporations
and web service providers, can be recognized by the familiar "com."
- Point
of view or bias: What is the author's goal? This is an especially important
question to ask when researching a controversial topic. Some web authors clearly
state their position on a matter of debate, while others work so far inside an
issue that they assume their readers are already well-versed on the points in
dispute.
- Referral to and/or knowledge of the literature: What does
the author know? Depth and breadth of knowledge can often be evaluated by the
quantity and quality of resources offered on a site, as distinct from the number
of links to resources on other sites.
- Accuracy or verifiability of
details: Where did this information come from? As in conventional scholarship,
web publications should identify the sources of their information.
- Currency:
Is the information still current? Most websites have a copyright date at the foot
of every page and some also post the date of the site's most recent update.
We
encourage you to apply these same criteria to the websites featured at EDSITEment.
These sites have been selected through a year-long academic review process, developed
by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This rigorous screening ensures
high-quality content at all EDSITEment websites. Nonetheless, some of the sites
may contain links to material that has not been screened or that may not be developmentally
appropriate for some students. When you use EDSITEment resources in your classroom,
be sure to preview the materials you plan to use. When you direct students to
EDSITEment, be sure to remind them of their responsibilities as Internet researchers.
Lesson plan: To emphasize these responsibilities, have your students, individually
or in teams, choose a topic for an Internet-wide search. They might look for information
about a particular author or a historical event or a cultural landmark. Have them
use the search [link] button on your browser to find one or two websites that
match their search terms. Then have them evaluate these sites using the six criteria
outlined above. In a class discussion, have students discuss and defend their
website evaluations. Remind students to cite websites as they would for a paper
or a project. A Note on Citations Researchers
using information gathered on the Internet must cite their sources just as they
would cite conventional sources in traditional research. Citation standards have
been developed for electronic information based on the American
Psychological Association, Modern Language
Association and Chicago
Manual of Style conventions. For more information, consult the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Citation
Guides for Electronic Documents 1.Formulated
by Elizabeth E. Kirk of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University.
|