Transcript Research and the Internet

Research and
the Internet
Adapted from the Purdue
University Writing Lab by Dr. K
Purdue University Writing Lab
Research and the Internet

The Internet can be
a great tool for
research, but finding
quality web
materials and using
them to your
advantage in your
writing can be
challenging.
OWL web site:
owl.english.
purdue.edu
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Why do we need to evaluate web
sources?
Virtually any person can
publish almost anything
on the Internet.
 Unlike most print sources,
web sources do not have
to be professionally
accepted and edited to be
published.

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Types of web pages
Informative pages
 Personal web pages
 Political/interest group
pages
 Marketing-oriented or
“infomercial” pages
 Entertainment pages

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Identify the web site
Assess the authorship,
content, and purpose of the
web site.
 This is important because

many web sources are not
checked for accuracy.
 some personal sites are used
to express individual opinions
about issues, but not
necessarily the facts.
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Identify the web site
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Sometimes the actual
purpose of the web site may
not be clearly articulated.
Can be difficult to separate
advertising from accurate
information.
Some marketing sites will
offer misleading information
in attempts to sell their
products.
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Identify the web site
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Whenever possible, try
to locate the home
page.
You can often do this by
eliminating some
information from the
end of the URL.
.org
.com
.edu
.au
.gov
.net
.us
.uk
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Identify the web site
Who is the creator of
the site?
 What is the purpose of
the site?
 Who is the audience
of this site?
 Can you purchase
products at this site?

Is the site affiliated
with a business or
university?
 Does the site offer
idiosyncratic
information about a
particular person or
group?

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Examine for credibility
Credibility may be
compromised by
purposeful misinformation
or by unintentional neglect.
 Locating the name of the
site’s creator may be
challenging.
 Credentials may be
missing even if the author’s
name is provided.

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Examine for credibility
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Who is the author of the site?
What is the authority or expertise of
the individual or group?
What else comes up when you type
the author’s name into a search
engine?
Does the source have a political or
business agenda?
Is the site sponsored by a political or
business group? If so, what can you
find out about that group?
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Examine for credibility
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Does the site provide a list
of sources or a Works Cited
page?
Can you locate any of the
source material? How
reliable is this material?
Are there links to other
credible sites with additional
information?
Does the site provide a link
for emailing the author or
webmaster?
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Who is the author?
Is there an author or organization clearly
indicated?
 Can the author be contacted?
 What can you find out about the author?
 If there is no information on the site, use a
search engine. You may find the author’s
homepage or other documents which
mention this person.
 Directory of Published Writers
(http://www.writers.net).

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Is there a sponsoring organization?
If there is an organization sponsoring the
page, what can you learn about the
organization and who they are?
 (You can search the site by following links
to its home page or going back to a
previous level on the site.
 Does the organization take responsibility for
what’s on the site? Does it monitor or
review what’s on the site?
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Use the web address
Look at the address for the site. Does it end in
.edu, indicating that it’s an educational
institution? If it has .gov, it should be fairly
objective government-sponsored material.
 Addresses with .org are usually non-profit
organizations that are advocacy groups. (The
Sierra Club is an example of an advocacy
group. Their postings will conform to their goals
of environmental preservation. Information
posted by advocacy groups may be accurate
but not entirely objective.)
 If the site has a .com address, it’s most likely
promoting or selling something.
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Accuracy of information
-Is there documentation to indicate the source
of the information? There may be a link to the
original source of the information.
 -Can you tell how well researched the
information is?
 -Are criteria for including information offered?
 -Is there a bibliography or links to other useful
sites? Has the author considered information
on those sites or considered viewpoints
represented there?
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Accuracy of information
-Is the information current? When was it
updated? (You can check at the bottom for a
"last revised" date and/or notice if there are
numerous dead links on the site.)
 -Is there any indication of bias on the site?
 -Does the site have any credentials such as
being rated by a reputable rating group? If
you see a high rating, is that because of the
soundness of the content or the quality of the
design? ( An attractive page is not a reason
for accepting its information as reliable.)
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Goals of the site
-What is the purpose of the site? To provide
information? Advertise? Persuade?
 -Are the goals of the site clearly indicated?
 -Who is the intended audience?
 -Is there a lot of flash and color and gimmicks
to attract attention? Is that masking a lack of
sound information or a blatant attempt to get
you to do or buy something?
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Access: How did you find the site?
Were there links from reputable sites?
From ads?
 If you found the site through a search
engine, that means only that the site has
the words in the topic you are researching
prominently placed or used with great
frequency. If you found the site by
browsing through a subject directory, that
may mean only that someone at that site
registered it with that directory.
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Determine depth and
scope of information
Does the material show signs of research,
such as references to other sources,
hyperlinks, footnotes, or a reference page?
 Does the author consider opposing points of
view?
 How closely does the site really match the
information for which you are searching?

 Corroborate
information whenever
possible!
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Determine depth and
scope of information

Different from print sources:
 Information covered on web pages is often
presented for easy digestion and visual appeal.
 Information may not provide sufficient depth or
scope.
 Material may be affected by marketing or political
bias.

Sometimes web sources may not be the right sources
for the information you need.
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Assess date of information
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Can you locate a date on the web
page?
Dates on web pages can mean:
 Date the author first wrote or
developed the material
 Date site was first available on
the Internet for public access
 Date site was most recently
updated, including revisions,
additions, or subtractions to the
material
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Assess date of information
Does the site clearly state
a date of creation or a
date for the most recent
update?
 More importantly, does
the information cover
recent changes or
advances in the field or
topic you are
researching?
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Ways to check up on
websites
from UC Berkeley
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What do others say?
Find out what other web pages link to this page.
 a. Use alexa.com
 Type or paste the URL into alexa.com's search
box.
 Click on "Overview".You will see, depending on the
volume of traffic to the page:･Traffic details.･
"Related links" to other sites visited by people who
visited the page.･Sites that link to the page.･
Contact/ownership info for the domain name.･A
link to the "Wayback Machine," an archive showing
what the page looked like in the past.
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Link Search
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Do a link: search in Google, Yahoo!, or another
search engine where this can be done:
1. Copy the URL of the page you are
investigating (Ctrl+C in Windows).
2. Go to the search engine site, and type link:
in the search box.
3. Paste the URL into the search box
immediately following link: (no space after the
colon). The pages listed all contain one or
more links to the page you are looking for. If
you find no links, try a shorter portion of the
URL, stopping after each /.
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Use a Directory
 Look
up the title or publisher of the
page in a reputable directory that
evaluates its contents
 Librarians' Index
 Infomine
 About.com
 another specialized directory you trust
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Look up the author's name in Google or
Yahoo!INSTRUCTIONS in Google: Search
the name three ways:
 without quotes - Joe Webauthorb. enclosed
in quotes as a phrase - "Joe Webauthor“
 enclosed in quotes with * between the first
and last name - "Joe * Smith" (The * can
stand for any middle initial or name in
Google only).
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Are these websites legit?
 http://www.quackwatch.org/
 http://oncolink.com/
 http://www.probush.com/
 http://www.genochoice.com/
 http://www.martinlutherking.org/
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