Look
for author's name, title, affiliation, and contact information.
Read the "about" section of the site.
Look for trusted web sites such as:
Academic
institutions (e.g. McGill University)
Government (e.g. U.S. Department of Education)
Professional associations (e.g. American Psychological Association)
Research centers (e.g. National Institutes of Health)
Print publishers (e.g. Sage)
Cultural institutions (e.g. British Museum)
Look
for domains:
.edu
usually has academic content, but watch out for students' personal
pages.
.gov is a good source of statistical, health, scientific,
and other information.
.com means the site is commercially sponsored, and the
information is suspect. Must meet other criteria to be used for
coursework.
.org could be a cultural institution, church, political
party, or interest group. Apply all evaluative criteria.
Look for positive reviews, awards, or citations for the site.
Follow web guides selected by librarians or other experts.
Examples
1.
American West
Who is
the author of this essay?
Where does he teach?
Go back to the table of contents and look at the list of contributors.
What other evidence of scholarship do you find in this essay?
2.
Artist William Rimmer
Several
qualities vouch for the authority of this essay:
It is
published in an established scholarly journal.
An author biography is provided.
It includes notes and references.
3.
Greenhouse Effect
This is an example of a personal page hosted on a computer at Penn State University.
The name of the author, Alistair B. Fraser, is a bit hard to find. It’s tilted to the right of the square at the top of the page.
To find out who Alistair B. Fraser is, shorten the URL to http://www.ems.psu.edu/%7Efraser
This tells you that the author is a professor of meteorology, a good authority.
4.
Herb
Simon
This
piece is authoritative.
It’s published in a leading science journal.
Information about the author is available.
Did the author know Herb Simon personally?
5.
Mary
Queen of Scots
Who is
the author of this biography?
What are her credentials?
Is she an expert on Tudor history?
Is she a good authority on the subject?
If you’re unsure, apply other evaluation criteria (accuracy, objectivity,
and coverage).
6.
Tourette Syndrome
Who are
the authors of this article?
What are their credentials?
What organization are they associated with?
Is contact information provided for this organization?
