Evaluate the Sources You Find Online
It is critical that you know how to evaluate the information you find online.
Here are questions to ask about every source:
- Who is the website author?
- What are their credentials?
- Is there a clear purpose/goal? Do you suspect bias?
- What is the website domain?
- .gov and .edu websites are more trustworthy
- Is the information generated by the authors, or did they find the information somewhere else?
- Do the authors cite where they got their information from?
- Are you able to verify footnotes, bibliographies, or hyperlinks?
- Is the cited information current?
- Can the information be corroborated on other websites?
- Are there advertisements that make you think the website content could have been influenced by the marketing companies?
- Is the information presented current and relevant?
Harvard Guide to Evaluating Web Sources
Internet searching and website evaluation (ppt, 2.65Mb)
Gateways, search engines & databases, Google vs. Scholar vs. PubMed, Boolean & advanced searching, evaluation of websites
Download workbook activities (doc, 254kb)
Download Appendix: Searching Databases Using Wild Cards, Truncation & Phrase Searching (doc, 58kb)
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