Policy Researcher Tutorial

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22. Evaluating What You Find on the Web

Because there is no review process or regulation of the public Web, you will need to judge for yourself the quality of the matieral you find. Keep in mind these questions:

Accuracy Does the information presented seem accurate? Are the facts verifiable?

Authority Who is the author? What expertise does he or she have on this topic? Who sponsors the site? Check the domain name to see if it is a university, business, organization, or an individual.

Objectivity What is the stated purpose of the site? Check the "About..." link if there is one. What position or opinion is presented and does it seem biased? What kind of sites does this one link to?

Currency On what date was the page created? Do you need more current information? Do links on the site still connect to their destination?

Use Would you quote information from this site in a college research paper?

See also checklist for an Advocacy Web Page http://www.cofc.edu/~seay/advoc_eval.html