Evaluate the accuracy of the site
Unless you already have a base knowledge of a particular field and
its experts, how do you tell if information is "good"? One way is to
measure it against information on the same topic in other formats.
Or you may have found a rich source of information on your chosen
topic by following a link from a page you judge to contain accurate
information.
It is helpful to know if you are at a site that is referenced by other
sites for its content. It may not be a citation in a printed
bibliography, but it may mean that someone thought well
enough of it to provide a link to it. Not many institutional sites
provide links to badly constructed websites with inaccurate
information.
Things to look for:
- Is the topic appropriate for the site
- Is the source of the information clearly posted
- Who is the author/creator/publisher and what are his/her/their
credentials
- Are there references from other resources on the same or related
topics
- Has the site been reviewed by a professional organization or your
peers
Table of Contents | Next
Originally published May 1996 by Lida
L. Larsen, Assistant Director, Collegial Relations and Information
Services, Office of Information Technology, University of
Maryland, College Park. Revised April 2006. Copyright Protected
Questions, comments, and suggestions can be sent
to lidalarsen@acm.org
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