COMM 101 - Effective Speaking - Cieri

Authority

• What should I look for?
  • Who is the author?
  • What are the author’s credentials?
  • Does the author have expertise in the subject?
  • Is the author associated with a reputable organization?
  • Is contact information provided?
• Why should I evaluate? 
  • Websites are created for different reasons: advocacy, commercial, informational, marketing, personal.
  • There are no web standards for who can publish information on a subject.
  • If you can’t determine the author, how do you know the author is a whiz on the subject?
• How can I tell?
  • Check the top and bottom of the web page for clues.
  • Look at the domain endings, is the site: .com? .edu? .gov? .mil? .net? .org?
  • Is this page linked to a main website for the author or organization?
  • Look for a page explaining the mission or philosophy of the author or organization.
  • Ask a Reference Librarian about the author/organization.

Bias

• What should I look for?
  • Is the information balanced?
  • Is it more opinion than fact?
  • Is the page a presentation of facts or designed to sway opinion?
  • Is a product, service, or idea being sold?
• Why should I evaluate? 
  • Goals and objectives of the author may not be clearly stated.
  • The web may serve as a place to make someone’s opinion public.
• How can I tell?
  • Read through and scan the page to determine the viewpoint.
  • Is there a page explaining who the author is and his or her mission or philosophy?
  • Ask a Reference Librarian if the information is objective.

Currency

• What should I look for?
  • When was the page last updated?
  • Are there any broken/dead links?
  • Is the information consistent with your knowledge of the subject?
• Why should I evaluate? 
  • Pages with broken/dead links may not be regularly updated.
  • It is important to have some knowledge of the subject to know if the content is out-of-date.
  • Your research may require the most up-to-date information.
• How can I tell?
  • Check to see if the author attributes information/facts to a particular year.
  • Look at the bottom of the page to see if the author has included a date.
  • The copyright year will tell you when the site license was last updated.
  • Ask a Reference Librarian to verify when it was last updated.

Documentation

• What should I look for?
  • Is information documented with references?
  • Are facts supported with evidence?
  • If statistics are provided, what is the source?
  • Is the page free of spelling mistakes or other obvious mistakes?
• Why should I evaluate? 
  • Anyone can publish anything on the web.
  • Unlike traditional print resources, web resources rarely have editors or fact-checkers.
  • There are no web standards to ensure accuracy.
• How can I tell?
  • Verify that the facts, references, or statistics have an identified source.
  • Do you see any errors or misspellings?
  • Ask a Reference Librarian if the information you have found can be obtained from a more reliable source.