Why Evaluation is Important We evaluate information in an informal way every time we read an article or look at a web site. Because of high printing and distribution costs, print information - newspapers, articles, books - undergoes a rigorous selection and evaluation process involving editors and publishers before we see it. With the web, anyone with access to a server can "publish" pages. The full responsibility for evaluation of web materials is on the shoulders of the information user. A massive amount of material is easily accessible on the web, but it is not all equally valuable. A study titled How Much Information, published online by the University of California at Berkeley, attempted to measure the amount of information produced in the world each year with the following results: - In 2000 the World Wide Web consists of roughly 2.5 billion static, publicly available pages and is growing at a rate of 100% per year.
- Taking all kinds of Web information into account there are 550 billion Web-connected documents and 95% of this information is publicly accessible. 7.3 million new pages are added to the Web per day.
Web page evaluation is an essential survival skill for students today. Below are some guidelines and tools to help you develop a more formal approach than "Wow, look at that!" or "You've got to be kidding".
Guidelines for a Successful Evaluation
- Your Purpose
The value of any web site has to be judged in the context of what you need at that particular time. If you need material on the effect of a star player's salary on a basketball team's long term earning power for a paper in micro economics, you need a different site than the one you use to find out the scores from last night's game. The more clearly you can define your needs, and the more you already know about the background of your topic, the easier it will be to evaluate the usefulness of what you find.
- Tips: When approaching an unfamiliar topic:
- Ask a Reference Librarian to recommend a source to serve as an overview.
- Use the Guides section of the Library's Research page to identify both print and online starting points.
- Search the CQ Researcher
- Purpose of the Site
As a web site user, recognition of a site's purpose can help you evaluate its content.
- To Inform: Educational institutions, government agencies, publishers, and some individuals create sites that are intended to provide a broad range of useful information and services rather than promote a particular idea or product.
- To Influence: Organizations or individuals may offer sites advocating a particular view of an issue. Their purpose is to persuade you to join their point of view. They often include policy papers, reports, and other valuable material, as well as opinion, but they seldom include opposing opinions or reports. These sites can be very useful as long as you recognize their bias (even when it agrees with your own).
- To Sell: Business sites, known as dot coms, promote and sell products. Today, these sites may provide all kinds of services and information to attract readers. However, this information is seldom as balanced or as complete as is needed for academic research, unless you are researching the company itself.
Tips:
- Many sites have an overview page called: About This Site or a Site Map. A Site Index can help you find specific information quickly.
- Look at the domain letters at the end of the URL to identify the type of site.
- .edu educational sites
- .gov government sites
- .mil military
- .com business
- .net network access companies
- .org non-profit organizations
- .int international organization
- The Author of the Page
- Who is the individual or organization responsible for the scope and accuracy of the content on the page. Be wary of sites that do not clearly identify an author, and do not confuse the "webmaster" or designer of the site with the author of the page's content.
- Tips:
- Look for an "About Us" or "Authors" page providing information about the qualifications of the authors.
- If you can't identify an individual author, look for the copyright symbol, often found at the bottom of the page, to determine who claims responsibility for the page.
- It is often possible to identify the organization responsible for the server on which the page sits by examining the first portion of the url.
- Personal pages created by individuals are often hosted on .edu, .net, .org, and some .com servers. A tilde sign (~) in front of a name is often a sign of a personal page.
If you are able to identify an individual author, try to answer these questions: - Does the person have professional credentials in this field.
- There are many biographical directories and encyclopedias in the Reference section of the library such as Who's Who in America, Directory of American Scholars, or Biography Index. Ask a Librarian to recommend the ones most useful for your purpose. A quick search for a name in newspaper sources such as Lexis Nexis can often turn up information about well known persons in any field.
- Have they written widely in the field.
- Search by author in Academic Search Premier or one of the specialized indexes available on the Library's Index page to find journal articles. Check World Cat for monographs they have written.
- Is their work reviewed or commented on by others.
- Search their name as a subject in Academic Search Premier or one of the specialized indexes available on the Library's Index page to find journal articles.
The Content
- Coverage:
- How completely does the site explore the topic. Compare it to other sites.
- Does it provide you with a bibliography of printed works or a list of other sites to help you expand your understanding of the topic.
- If the material is a digitized version of a printed document, is it complete including images, graphs, tables, etc..
- Do the sources come from a variety of journals, books, and other materials, or does the author cite the same sources repeatedly.
- Objectivity:
- Does the author or publisher of the page have a vested interest in the topic.
- Are the author's sources of information clearly documented and, if you are lucky, linked.
- Are both pro and con views of controversial topics given.
- Currency:
- Does the site tell you when it was first created.
- If the material is digitized from printed copy, what edition was used. Is it the most up to date available.
- Does the page clearly indicate when it was last updated.
- Tip: One important advantage the web can have over print is the rapid update and distribution of information. However, some publishers do not put their most current edition on the web until the print copies are sold. Some newspapers and periodicals put only one or two articles from the current issue on the web, or just the table of contents. You may need to use the full text databases subscribed to by the library for more complete coverage.
- Accuracy:
- Is the factual information given correct. Error creeps in, even in printed material with editors and proofreaders. More error creeps into the web where there are fewer control mechanisms. Check crucial facts in another resource either on the web or in print. Ask a librarian for recommended sources.
- The Design
- A site that is well designed will be attractive and easy to use. Some things to look for include:
- Easy to navigate within or among pages
- Availability of an search function or index on a large site
- Aesthetically pleasing graphics and color
- Easy to read text and color
- Thumbnail graphics and rapid download of graphics
- It is easy to print or download information from the site.
Reviews and Tools Provided by Others - Scout Reports provides excellent web site reviews.
- Infomine from the University of California at Riverside is selective and gives good descriptions of the sites included.
- The Argus Clearinghouse is selective and applies a well defined rating system.
- The Internet Public Library is another example of a directory where the sites have been carefully chosen and well described.
- WorldCat allows you to search in one place for electronic materials, including web sites, selected and cataloged by academic libraries in the U.S.
- Netscape has a "What's Related" button at the top right of the browser, and Microsoft's Explorer has a similar function on its Toolbar list that allow you to see what other web sites have linked to this one. The Google and Alta Vista search engines can do this as well.
- Tip: Search Engines routinely return results lists with many thousands of hits including a bewildering variety of sources. It is important to narrow these down by using the "limits" available when making a search. Usually you must select the "advanced search" level to see these limiting features.
More Information on Evaluation Sample Sites for Practice or Classroom - Tobacco Control Archives - This is a good example of authority and accuracy issues.
- Tobacco Resolution page - authorship and purpose issues
- PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - author and purpose issues
- Feline Reactions to Bearded Men - This site would provide a good example for checking links and evaluating transfer of credibility. It is also hilarious.
- USA Today - This page is an excellent example of currency. The page updates itself automatically.
- Roget's Thesaurus - This is the 1913 edition. This site is a good example of an outdated site that could be used to check currency of information.
View or print a handy web site evaluation form, here. |
