EVALUATING SOURCES

Finding Credible Websites

Online Research Strategies

The internet is a BIG place full of a ton of information. Some of it will be useful; however, most of it, will not.

What should you be on the lookout for? The following slides will outline the 4 criteria

that you will need to utilize in order to judge whether or not your source is reliable. 1. Authority2. Accuracy3. Objectivity4. Currency

Authority

Who is the author, and what are his or her qualifications?

Why should you trust them? Trust established sources, such as the

Encyclopedia Britannica’s or the Library of Congress’s Web site, but not an individual’s home page or personal blog.

Wikipedia is not an established source, and should not be used.

Accuracy

Is the information reliable? Does the author cite sources for his/her information? Check information from one site against information from two other sites or print sources, especially if it seems difficult to believe.

Objectivity

What is the author’s bias, or perspective? Does the provider of the information have

a hidden motive or a special interest? Could they be making money off of this

information? Do they obviously have a strong political

affiliation? You don’t have to discard information from

sources that do, but you should the bias into consideration.

Currency

How current is the information? At the bottom of the site’s home

page, look for the date on which the page was created or revised.

If you need current information, reject dated sources. Some dated material will no longer be relevant to your argument.

Top Level Domain Names

What comes after the URL and should you trust that site?

.edu Educational institution. Site may publish scholarly work or the

work of elementary, high school or college students. These institutions generally have reputations they need to uphold and publish accurate information.Ex:

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/which-plants-will-survive-droughts-231567.aspx

Top Level Domain Names

.gov Government body website. Information should be reliable.

Often involves statistics, data, census information, etc. Ex: www.hhs.gov (Health and Human Services); www.stopbullying.gov

.org Usually a non-profit organization. If the organization promotes culture (such as a museum),

information should be reliable; if it advocates a cause, information may be biased and you’ll need to use your judgment to determine if information is reliable. Ex: PBS.org (reliable); www.nationformarriage.org (very

political—information likely to be biased)

Top Level Domain Names

.com Commercial enterprise (they are selling

something). Information should be evaluated carefully.

.net Organization offering Internet services.

Information should be evaluated carefully.

Good Bets: Start your search here!

Google Scholar: www.googlescholar.com When you get your results from your search, you will need to

check to make sure there is a full copy of the text. Search for “Full Text Articles” (this will not always be an option.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context: click link in Sharepoint Click on student resources, a search box will appear on the

right. If you access from home, the password is “orange”

CSULB will now allow students access to their Media and Print collections by showing OCSA ID.  In addition, students can access many of their research databases by going to this link  http://csulb.libguides.com/freedatabases OCSA Students also now have access to CSU Fullerton, and UC

Irvine Libraries. See me for more details.

Good Bets: Start your search here!

Solid reliable sources: Newspapers with online archives:

The New York Times The Los Angeles Times The Chicago Tribune

Magazines with online archives: Time Magazine

Website: Education Week (www.edweek.org) Edutopia (George Lucas) www.edutopia.org