FINDIN

G CREDIB

LE

SOURCES

ON

TH

E I

NT

ER

NE

T

How do you

separate

The GOOD

From

The BAD?

THERE IS SO MUCH INFORMATION ON THE WEB

1. DETERMINE THE AUTHORITY OF THE SITE.

Who is in charge of the site?

Is there contact information available to find out more about this person/group?

Does the site have a reliable domain?

COMMON DOMAINS .edu= educational institution—could be posted by students, teachers, or professors—check credentials http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

.gov= government supported—generally considered to be credible http://www.ed.gov/

.net= can belong to ANYONE—use caution http://meetjustinbieber.net

.com= usually belong to business—use caution http://www.proactiv.com/

.mil= belong to U.S. military—generally credible http://www.army.mil/

.org= usually non-profit organizations—may or may not be credible; use caution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

2. DETERMINE THE ACCURACY OF THE SITE.

Is it easy to see who wrote the information?

Are all factual claims supported by cited sources?

Are there any obvious grammatical or spelling errors?

Was the page/site updated somewhat recently?

3. DETERMINE THE MOTIVATION OF THE SITE.

Is there any bias that you notice in the information?

Is the site trying to sell you something?

Are the ads clearly separate from the information presented?

4. USE YOUR COMMON SENSE

Just because something is on the Internet DOES NOT MEAN it is true.

Any person with access to the Internet and a little spare time can create their own Web site.

There is little or no government monitoring or control of what is published on Web sites.

5. ALWAYS LOOK FOR COMMON INDICATORS

OF POOR WEB SITE CREDIBILITY.No datesBad grammarOld, outdated informationNo way to contact authorSite is confusingBiased views

LET’S PRACTICE FINDING CREDIBLE WEBSITES!

Example #1: Ian’s Land of Castles

Is this a good source to cite in academic writing?

Why or why not?

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/ndarling/castle/castles.htm

LET’S PRACTICE FINDING CREDIBLE WEBSITES!

Example #2: “Smoking Cessation”

Is this a good source to cite in academic writing?

Why or why not?

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/cessation/quitting/index.htm#benefits

LET’S PRACTICE FINDING CREDIBLE WEBSITES!

Example #3: “Nose-Picking in the Pongidae and Its Implication for Human Evolution”

Is this a good source to cite in academic writing?

Why or why not?

http://www.calflora.net/primatenooz/nosepicking.html

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

Tell me one aspect of a website that can help you to determine

whether it website is “credible” or not…

Happy Hunting!!