Citing and Evaluating Web Sources
The Internet is a continuously changing medium. The information found today may not be there tomorrow or may be there in a different version. For research purposes, this presents some problems. It literally may not be possible to track someone else's research. Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, students would be wise to print a copy of any information found on the Internet that is used in a research project. That information could be share directly with a professor if necessary.
Honest scholarship requires researchers give complete information to reflect the information found at a particular time. Below is a basic format to follow when citing information found on the Internet. This format is based on The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd edition. Columbia University Press, 2006 which is on permanent reserve at the Lending Services Desk in Fintel Library.For WWW sites, give the author's name (if known), the full title of the work in quotation marks, the title of the complete work if applicable in italics, the full http address, and the date of visit.
Example:
SearchEngineWatch.com Staff. "The Major Search Engines." Search Engine Watch.
http://searchenginewatch.com/2156221
(21 July 2009).
Criteria for Evaluating Web Sources
Information found on the Internet needs to be looked at critically just as information found in books and periodicals does, maybe even more so. Anyone with a computer and access to the Internet can "publish" information. There is a lot of valuable information as well as garbage available to you. How do you sort through this information overload and find relevant, authoritative information? Below are some guidelines:
1. Look for clues in the address. Think about the bias the institution/organization/firm may have. Here are common abbreviations you might see:
- edu - educational institution
- org - organization, usually nonprofit
- gov - governmental agency
- com- commercial firm
2. Look for an author. This is the one piece of information most likely not to be found. Look for the author's affiliation with an institution and/or educational degrees.
3. Look for dates - last updated when? Copyright date? Dates can be critical in topics such as medicine, science, etc. The Internet is not new anymore. Some of the information can be very outdated.
4. Look for an email address to which comments/suggestions can be made. This may indicate someone wants to keep the information current and accurate.
5. Look for information about the sponsoring group or organization. It may be found at the beginning of the homepage or at the end of the homepage. Reputable organizations would not want their name associated with false or misleading information.
6. Compare information found here with other, conventional sources. Use several kinds of sources for your research including journal articles, newspapers, books, interviews, and reference sources in addition to Internet sources.
ONLINE GUIDES TO EVALUATING WORLD WIDE WEB INFORMATION
1. Barker, Joe. “Evaluating web pages.” (24 May 2006).
