Evaluating Sources of Information: Sample Web Documents
Sample Web Documents
Try to evaluate the following Web documents using the Questions to Ask. Refer to Where to Look for Answers for tips. For more information, see Evaluating Sources of Information.
Web Documents on Affirmative Action:
- Affirmative Action - Moral Compensation or Reverse Discrimination
- Affirmative Action or Equal Opportunity?
- Angry White Guys For Affirmative Action
- Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
- The Fallacy of Affirmative Action
- Ten Myths About Affirmative Action
- What Does Affirmative Action Affirm?
Web Documents on AIDS:
Miscellaneous Web Documents:
- California's Velcro
Crop under Challenge
- Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
DHMO Homepage
- Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
- GenoChoice
- New Invention Allows Humans to Live Forever
- Primate Programming Inc. (PPI)
- White House
Questions to Ask
Who is responsible for publishing the information provided by the source? What are the credentials and affiliation or sponsorship of any named individuals or organizations? How objective, reliable, and authoritative are they? Is the author or contact person listed with addresses (street, e-mail)?
What can be said about the content, context, style, structure, completeness and accuracy of the information provided by the source? Are any conclusions offered? If so, based on what evidence and supported by what secondary and primary documentation? What is implied by the content? Is the content relevant to your information needs?
When was the information provided by the source published? Is the information provided by the source in its original form or has it been revised? Is this information updated regularly?
Where else can the information provided by the source be found? Is this information authentic? Is this information unique or has it been copied?
Why was the information provided by the source published? What are the perspectives, opinions, assumptions and biases of whoever is responsible for this information? Is anything being sold? Who is the intended audience?
Where to Look for Answers
Ideally, Web documents will include the following elements which can be used in the evaluation process:
- Author or contact person with addresses (street, e-mail)
- Document Uniform Resource Locator (URL), including an institutional
identifier (e.g., an edu within a URL identifies the sponsoring institution
as an educational institution)
- Date of creation or revision
- Link to sponsoring institution Web site
For more information on evaluating Web documents, see:
