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8.3: Evaluating Online Information

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    Not all online information is trustworthy. To evaluate a source, consider:

    Authority

    Who wrote it? What are their qualifications?

    Accuracy

    Is the information supported by evidence? Are there citations?

    Purpose

    Is the site trying to inform, sell, persuade, entertain, or shock?

    Currency

    How recently was it published or updated?

    Bias

    Does the author present multiple perspectives or only one side?

    A common tool is the CRAAP test:

    Purpose

    Use it to decide if a website belongs in an academic essay.

    Recommended OER Readings

    Evaluating Online Sources

    Thumbnail for the embedded element "Can't Lie On The Internet"

    A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/ccomp/?p=174

    You may have seen the commercial above making a point about how you have to be careful of what you find on the internet. This is true in life and in your efforts to find quality sources for academic papers.

    The internet is particularly challenging because anyone can really post anything they want on the internet. At the same time, there are some really quality sources out there, such as online journals.

    The important thing is to use skepticism, use the guidelines you have read about in this section of Research, and be sure to ask your professor if general web sources are even allowed. Sometimes, in an effort to have students steer clear of inaccurate information, professors will forbid general web sources for a paper, but this is not always the case. If you are allowed to go to the web to locate sources, just remember to check for suitability, credibility, and timelinessusing the guidelines presented in this section of the Excelsior OWL.

    Using the Evaluation Checklist will also give you some good guidelines to remember, no matter where you found your source.

     

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