Evaluating Websites
In general, information available on the internet is not regulated or reviewed for accuracy or quality. It is the responsibility of the reader to evaluate the information.
Reasons to Evaluate:
- Anyone can create a web page
- Facts and opinions are mixed
- Content is generally not regulated or reviewed for accuracy or quality
- Some search engines operate on payment schemes
- Pay per click: Keywords auctioned to advertisers
- Pay per action: Advertisers pay only when a click results in an action.
- First page costs: The cost for your ad to reach the first page of Google search results.
The Purpose of a Web Page can vary:
Internet Domains: A domain is the identification string that translates numerical internet protocol (IP) addresses to unique alphanumeric addresses. Some of the most recognized Top level internet domains:
- gov - Government agencies (restricted use)
- edu - Educational institutions (restricted use)
- org - Organizations (nonprofit), Advocacy groups (open, unrestricted use)
- mil - Military (restricted use)
- com - commercial business (open, unrestricted use)
- net - Network organizations (open, unrestricted use)
- pro - Professionals -- certified lawyers, accountants, physicians and engineers (restricted use)
- info - Information (open, unrestricted use)
- coop - Business cooperatives as set down by the Rochdale Principles (restricted use)
More on Domains:
- To determine who owns the rights to a domain, use a domain based search service: http://www.whois.net/
- New Generic Top Level Domains from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
- Using a domain to target search engine results
Evaluation Criteria for Websites: Asking questions about a website's Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage can help you to determine whether the website is useful for your academic research.
- See the Checklist for the evaluation criteria.
Exercise: Evaluating Websites
Use the evaluation criteria and what you know about domain names to evaluate the pairs of websites.
Eating Disorders: http://www.something-fishy.org/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/eatingdisorders.html
Herman Melville: http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/melville.html
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/melville.html
Whitehouse: www.whitehouse.net
www.whitehouse.com
Dihydrogen Monoxide: http://www.dhmo.org/
http://www.squidoo.com/dihydrogen-monoxide-dhmo#module9978098
Nanomedicine: http://www.nanomedjournal.org/
http://www.rythospital.com/nanodocs/
Google search: Martin Luther King
Locating Articles
When you have a topic or subject and article and you need articles in support, the best resource to use are periodical databases.
There are many reasons to use databases rather than simply settling for Google :
Searching library databases is very different than searching Google. Your search terms need to be adjusted accordingly. The following slide show demonstrates how to use key words to get the most results in databases.
Searching Google vs Searching Databases.ppt
To get started, go to the library's database page. You can either use the box on the left to look for databases by subject or browse through all of them alphabetically.
If you need help or still have questions, Contact a Librarian.
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