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Why is Evaluation Important?
With the massive increase in available information over the last
decade, it has become more and more important to be informed about the
information you are using. The Internet offers access to much of
this information and is therefore a very valuable tool, however because there are no controls
on the Internet you can often find information to be incorrect or
unreliable. The information below will help you to start making
decisions about the resources you find.
Evaluation Criteria for Web
Sites
Click on the blue hyper linked words to check out a
web page example.
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I. Accuracy
 Is
the information reliable
and error-free?
Is
there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the
information?
Rationale
- Anyone can publish anything on the Web
- Unlike traditional print resources, web resources rarely
have editors or fact-checkers
- Currently, no web standards exist to ensure accuracy
II. Authority
III. Objectivity
IV. Currency
Is the page
dated?
If so, when
was the last update?
How current
are the links? Have some expired or moved?
Rationale
- Publication or revision dates not always provided.
- If a date is provided, it may have various meanings. For
example,
- It may indicate when the material
was first written
- It may indicate when the material
was first placed on the Web
- It may indicate when the material
was last revised
V. Coverage
Reproduced with permission from
Susan E. Beck
Beck, Susan.
"Evaluation Criteria." The Good, The
Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web
Sources. 1997. http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html |
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| Useful Evaluation Web Sites
Criteria for evaluation of Internet Information Resources
Victoria University of Wellington Department of
Library and Information Studies.
A thorough list of criteria for evaluating resources from the Internet.
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/evaln/index.htm
Evaluating Research Materials
Cornell University Library
A helpful web site with three main sections:
Critically analyzing information sources, Distinguishing scholarly from
non-scholarly periodicals & Evaluating Web sites
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/t/help/res_strategy/evaluating/index.html
Evaluation Criteria
New Mexico State University Library.
A comprehensive site (Partly reproduced above), which gives clear
evaluation guidelines as well as some live web page examples.
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
The Virtual Chase - Evaluative Skills
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
A web site with several very helpful sections, including:
Test Your Instincts, Evaluating Quality in Information, Evaluating
Web-based Finding Tools & Teaching Patrons How To Assess Quality.
http://www.virtualchase.com/researchskills/quality.html
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