Module B: Website Evaluation
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How do I know if I can trust the content on a website?
Once you have decided upon your key search terms, you can think about where you're going to search for the information and which sources are likely to be reliable. Whichever search engine you use, consider the following:
- Relevant results (results you are actually interested in)
- Uncluttered, easy to read interface
- Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search
- Reviewing the success of your search
Examine your search results carefully and see if they are what you were hoping for. If you are not happy with the results, don’t give up! A successful search will often take several tries. You can usually refine your searches by adding new terms which spring to mind once you have seen your initial results; or you may choose to limit your results if you feel you have retrieved too many. Different search engines, (e.g. Bing, Google), or databases, (e.g. JStor Ireland), will offer different search options to help with this.
Always remember to look at the "Help" or "Search tips" pages offered by the particular database or search engine you are currently using.
- Look, Check, Think
Wherever you find your results online, you need to evaluate the website in question. Why do you need to evaluate webpages you consult? Because anyone can create and publish a website. They are not checked for quality or accuracy before being made available to you. Although some sites, for example the Queen’s University Library website is authored by librarians with expertise in their field, most sites are created by non-experts.
THE LOOK, CHECK, THINK CHECKLIST
LOOK
First Impressions...
Quality
First impressions are useful. Have a look at the site as a whole.
- Is the site easy to use?
- Is the site easy to navigate?
- Is it easy to find what you want?
- Does the site take a long time to download?
- Are images used to illustrate points, or merely as decoration?
Now consider the content:
- Who is the intended audience? Is this an appropriate site to use in academic work?
- Does the content make sense? Are there obvious errors or inconsistencies? Is it an overview, or an in depth look? Is the subject well covered? How does this site compare with others on the same subject?
- Does the site have an obvious bias, e.g. disparaging, or even defamatory of a person, organisation, religion or political party?
- Has the information on the site been through any editing or peer reviewing process?
- Is the information based on research?
- Are there references, or links to research? Is there a bibliography? Are there spelling or grammatical errors? Is the information factual or opinion?
CHECK
Provenance
Url
Timeliness
All the information you need to know to evaluate a website should be available to you on the website. So now consider the following:
- Check the URL. What information can I get from checking the url?
- Research institute, university or school (.org or .ac.uk or .edu), government body (.gov), non-profit organisation (.org), commercial company (.com or .co.uk or .biz)
- Beware the hoax site, eg http://www.whitehouse.net/ instead of http://www.whitehouse.gov/ OR Save the Pacific Northwest tree octopus: https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/links.html OR Dog Island http://www.thedogisland.com/
Each of these will have a different reason for publishing the pages; a university site is likely to be more academic and usually less biased than a commercial site.
If not an academic site:
• check whether the page gives any information about the history of the organisation, its affiliations or view-points
• check whether anyone is sponsoring the site, and, if so, who
• check which country the site is based in. Information on China will have a completely different slant if put up in China or the United States.
Find dates on the website:
- When was the information written?
- Is there a date when the site was last updated?
- How frequently is the site updated?
- If there are references to research, how recent is this?
- Can you find a date on the page? If there is no date, check to see if there are broken links. This may be an indication that information on the site is no longer being maintained and may therefore be out of date.
THINK
Dig deeper…
Reliability
After considering your first impressions and checking the timeliness and provenance of your website, it’s time to dig a bit deeper.
- Who is the author? Affiliation?
- Who is hosting the site?
- Are they qualified in the subject area?
- Is there bias to the site?
- Does the site give contact details and links to more information about who has provided the site?
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Module B: Searching
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Module B Quiz 1