In this way, there is a degree of accountability for any of the ideas expressed. Once the individual or organization responsible for the content is known, you can then begin to look at other clues to help you ascertain credibilities, such as credentials and reputation. Be especially wary of sites in which the author or sponsoring organization is not clearly stated. Note, the sponsor of a site is often responsible for the content.
In addition, the first part of the address of a site, called the domain, contains information that allows you to get a general idea of the sponsor. For example, having the domain name. It is important to note that some sponsors are not directly responsible for the content on their site, such as personal pages hosted by universities or commercial Internet Service Providers e.
If you want to find out specifically who is hosting a site, you can remove part of the address from your current page and go back to the root address. Here you discover the Renaissance site is a project sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with funding from the Annenberg School of Communications.
That is, is there a phone number or postal address to contact for more information? Simply an e-mail address is not enough. As a result, you need to have some idea whether the group claiming responsibility for the information on the Web site is legitimate.
A phone number or postal address allows you to contact the group or company and ask for more information. Be wary of sites that do not provide contact information. Because it is difficult to verify the legitimacy of an individual, personal home pages may be useful sources for personal opinion but must be used with caution when citing them as a source for factual information.
Clues include an author's educational background e. If the content is provided by an organization, you might want to consider if the organization known and respected.
As a result, this check and balance system helps prevent the release of unsound information. Government sites. For other organizations, it can be difficult sometimes to determine if they are established and reputable. Clues to look for include the date an organization was founded, the number of members, their mission, the types of publications they produce, whether they have annual conferences, etc.
Generally, established organizations have been around for a while and have a good membership base. One way of determining the reputation of an organization is to examine how it is referred to in newspaper or periodical articles. You can use the library's subscription databases to search for articles in newspapers and periodicals on a particular organization.
Other sources known for quality include online journals and magazines. Most journals use a peer review process, whereby several individuals evaluate and critique an article, allowing the author to make revisions before an editor makes a final decision on whether it is published.
Popular magazines, although not having as stringent of a review process, still have editors who evaluate articles before they are published. As a result of this editorial process, these publications will tend to be more reliable or trustworthy than information found on a personal Web site.
In regards to the quality of an information source, it is important to note the difference between an unofficial comment made by an individual at an organization and an official statement by the same organization. When Bill Smith, employee of the National Weather Service, says on National Public Radio "I believe this will be a bad year for hurricanes," this information is based on his opinion and may be no more reliable than your own.
This is significantly different than a statement on the National Weather Service's Web site, "This is going to be a bad year for hurricanes. An official position will have been reviewed or edited before being released. In this way, the reader can confirm whether the information is accurate or the author's conclusions reasonable.
A page without references still may be useful as an example of the ideas of an individual, organization, or business, but not as source of factual information. Whether the errors come from carelessness or ignorance, they both put the information or writer in an unfavorable light. This may not be bad depending on your needs. For example, in writing a position paper on gun control, you may want to compare the extreme pro-gun position of the National Rifle Association, with that of the anti-gun organization Cease Fire or a more balanced report published by an independent think tank site such as the Brookings Institute.
Regardless, you will want to know if the information is biased or not in order to make appropriate decisions on how to use it. One way of determining this is by relying on your own experience and knowledge to determine if the information appears believable or reasonable.
Instant access upon order completion. Free Content. More Information. MLA Ghandour, Ahmad,et al. Ghandour, A. Azizi Wafa Ed. IGI Global. Ghandour, Ahmad and Kenneth R. Deans, and George L. Available In. Benwell University of Otago, New Zealand. DOI: There are links to reports, an overview of the "controversy", and related information.
If you knew nothing about chemistry, what would you think of this website? Search this Guide Search. Website Research: Evaluating Example Websites Learn how to choose the best websites to use as resources for your research!
First, let's take a look at two spoof websites. They both have obvious problems, but trying out the CRAAP test on them will help you in evaluating other websites that may try to fool you into believing they are credible sources.
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