Lesson B Internet Research

Evaluating Internet Resources

The Internet is a valuable resource tool used to gather information for your research paper. But as with all resource tools, you must be able to evaluate the information you find and determine its validity. Web sites can be authored by anyone. This lesson will introduce you to criteria you can use to evaluate Internet Web sites.

Help for this assignment is always available from Joline Cook at jcook@wccc.me.edu or by calling 454-1050.


Criteria	Evaluating Web Sites	Research Web Sites	Misleading Web Sites	Citation Styles

CRITERIA
Criteria used to evaluate Internet Web sites are Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency, and Coverage.

Do the tutorial in netTUTOR: Evaluation of Web Sites. Make sure that you do all five sections: Purpose, Author & Publisher, Content, Recognitions, and Lesson Review. There is also a checklist that you can use to evaluate your research Web sites when you do the assignment section of this lesson.

netTutor: Evaluation of Web Sites
http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les1/

Evaluating Web Sites
Use the following Web sites to learn how to evaluate Internet Web sites. Access and read at least three of these sites:

Evaluating Web Information http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate

Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html

WebSerch – The Web Research Resource http://www.clubi.ie/webserch/resources/index.htm

RESEARCH WEB SITES
Access three Web sites for your research topic using one or more of the following resources:

InFoPeople Search Tools Chart http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html

Librarians Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org

Infomine http://lib-www.ucr.edu

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu

National Institutes of Health (NIH) http://www.nih.gov

Librarians Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org

The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org

MISLEADING OR INACCURATE WEB SITES
These are examples of Web sites that are misleading or inaccurate.

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division (DMRD) http://www.dhmo.org/

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Examination http://martinlutherking.org/

Halloween http://www.jeremiahproject.com/halloween.html

RYT Hospital – Dwayne Medical Center http://www.rythospital.com

Boilerplate http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate

CITATION STYLES
Internet sources must be properly cited and documented. This is up-to-date information on how to cite online sources in the text and in the list of references for your research paper.

Using principles of MLA style to cite Internet sources http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html

Using principles of APA style to cite Internet sources http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html
NoodleBib

Origianally created by
Joline A. Cook - 2/14/2003
Updated - 10/17/2003
jcook@wccc.me.edu