Ask yourself the following questions to help you evaluate your resources. Click each topic for more information.
+ How did you find the information?
+ What is the coverage and relevance ?
+ Who is the intended audience ?
+ Does it have a bibliography ?
+ Who is the author ?
+ Evaluating Websites ?
The depth of coverage is a good indication of the usefulness of information
- Does it give facts that you already know are correct?
- Is the information covered in appropriate depth or only at a superficial level?
- Is it relevant to your research topic?
- Current or out of date
Consider the level of language used. Is the resource intended for:
- Scholars
- Professionals in this discipline
- General public
The presence of a bibliography is an indication of quality. Check:
- The number of references
- The type of references
- The date of the references
What authority does the author have? Can you identify:
- Name of individual or organisation
- Qualifications
- Professional or academic affiliation
- Contact details
When selecting websites consider the following:
- Who is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the website
- Are other information and links provided?
- Consider bias, ie commercial, political organisation?
- Are the pages current and updated regularly?
- Is the site user-friendly?
- Is the site professional or amateurish?
- Note web address domain information
- .gov – government site
- .com – commercial site
- .edu /.ac – educational institution
- .org – organisation
- .net – networks, some organisations, Internet Service Providers
- file type, ie .PDF, .doc, .ppt, .xls