Research and the Internet

1. Research and the Internet Adapted from the Purdue University Writing Lab by Dr. K Purdue University Writing Lab

2. Research and the Internet • The Internet can be a great tool for research, but finding quality web materials and using them to your advantage in your writing can be challenging. OWL web site: owl.english. purdue.edu

3. Why do we need to evaluate web sources? • Virtually any person can publish almost anything on the Internet. • Unlike most print sources, web sources do not have to be professionally accepted and edited to be published. Purdue University Writing Lab

4. Types of web pages • Informative pages • Personal web pages • Political/interest group pages • Marketing-oriented or “infomercial” pages • Entertainment pages Purdue University Writing Lab

5. Identify the web site • Assess the authorship, content, and purpose of the web site. • This is important because • many web sources are not checked for accuracy. • some personal sites are used to express individual opinions about issues, but not necessarily the facts. Purdue University Writing Lab

6. Identify the web site • Sometimes the actual purpose of the web site may not be clearly articulated. • Can be difficult to separate advertising from accurate information. • Some marketing sites will offer misleading information in attempts to sell their products. Purdue University Writing Lab

7. Identify the web site • Whenever possible, try to locate the home page. • You can often do this by eliminating some information from the end of the URL. .org .gov .com .net .edu .us .au .uk Purdue University Writing Lab

8. Who is the creator of the site? What is the purpose of the site? Who is the audience of this site? Can you purchase products at this site? Is the site affiliated with a business or university? Does the site offer idiosyncratic information about a particular person or group? Identify the web site Purdue University Writing Lab

9. Examine for credibility • Credibility may be compromised by purposeful misinformation or by unintentional neglect. • Locating the name of the site’s creator may be challenging. • Credentials may be missing even if the author’s name is provided. Purdue University Writing Lab

10. Examine for credibility • Who is the author of the site? • What is the authority or expertise of the individual or group? • What else comes up when you type the author’s name into a search engine? • Does the source have a political or business agenda? • Is the site sponsored by a political or business group? If so, what can you find out about that group? Purdue University Writing Lab

11. Examine for credibility • Does the site provide a list of sources or a Works Cited page? • Can you locate any of the source material? How reliable is this material? • Are there links to other credible sites with additional information? • Does the site provide a link for emailing the author or webmaster? Purdue University Writing Lab

12. Who is the author? • Is there an author or organization clearly indicated? • Can the author be contacted? • What can you find out about the author? • If there is no information on the site, use a search engine. You may find the author’s homepage or other documents which mention this person. • Directory of Published Writers (http://www.writers.net).

13. Is there a sponsoring organization? • If there is an organization sponsoring the page, what can you learn about the organization and who they are? • (You can search the site by following links to its home page or going back to a previous level on the site. • Does the organization take responsibility for what’s on the site? Does it monitor or review what’s on the site?

14. Use the web address • Look at the address for the site. Does it end in .edu, indicating that it’s an educational institution? If it has .gov, it should be fairly objective government-sponsored material. • Addresses with .org are usually non-profit organizations that are advocacy groups. (The Sierra Club is an example of an advocacy group. Their postings will conform to their goals of environmental preservation. Information posted by advocacy groups may be accurate but not entirely objective.) • If the site has a .com address, it’s most likely promoting or selling something.

15. Accuracy of information • -Is there documentation to indicate the source of the information? There may be a link to the original source of the information. • -Can you tell how well researched the information is? • -Are criteria for including information offered? • -Is there a bibliography or links to other useful sites? Has the author considered information on those sites or considered viewpoints represented there?

16. Accuracy of information • -Is the information current? When was it updated? (You can check at the bottom for a "last revised" date and/or notice if there are numerous dead links on the site.) • -Is there any indication of bias on the site? • -Does the site have any credentials such as being rated by a reputable rating group? If you see a high rating, is that because of the soundness of the content or the quality of the design? ( An attractive page is not a reason for accepting its information as reliable.)

17. Goals of the site • -What is the purpose of the site? To provide information? Advertise? Persuade? • -Are the goals of the site clearly indicated? • -Who is the intended audience? • -Is there a lot of flash and color and gimmicks to attract attention? Is that masking a lack of sound information or a blatant attempt to get you to do or buy something?

18. Access: How did you find the site? • Were there links from reputable sites? From ads? • If you found the site through a search engine, that means only that the site has the words in the topic you are researching prominently placed or used with great frequency. If you found the site by browsing through a subject directory, that may mean only that someone at that site registered it with that directory. 

19. Determine depth and scope of information • Does the material show signs of research, such as references to other sources, hyperlinks, footnotes, or a reference page? • Does the author consider opposing points of view? • How closely does the site really match the information for which you are searching? • Corroborate information whenever possible! Purdue University Writing Lab

20. Determine depth and scope of information • Different from print sources: • Information covered on web pages is often presented for easy digestion and visual appeal. • Information may not provide sufficient depth or scope. • Material may be affected by marketing or political bias. • Sometimes web sources may not be the right sources for the information you need. Purdue University Writing Lab

21. Assess date of information • Can you locate a date on the web page? • Dates on web pages can mean: • Date the author first wrote or developed the material • Date site was first available on the Internet for public access • Date site was most recently updated, including revisions, additions, or subtractions to the material Purdue University Writing Lab

22. Assess date of information • Does the site clearly state a date of creation or a date for the most recent update? • More importantly, does the information cover recent changes or advances in the field or topic you are researching? Purdue University Writing Lab

23. Ways to check up on websites from UC Berkeley

24. What do others say? Find out what other web pages link to this page. • a. Use alexa.com • Type or paste the URL into alexa.com's search box. • Click on "Overview".You will see, depending on the volume of traffic to the page:･Traffic details.･"Related links" to other sites visited by people who visited the page.･Sites that link to the page.･Contact/ownership info for the domain name.･A link to the "Wayback Machine," an archive showing what the page looked like in the past.

25. Link Search • Do a link: search in Google, Yahoo!, or another search engine where this can be done: • 1. Copy the URL of the page you are investigating (Ctrl+C in Windows). • 2. Go to the search engine site, and type link: in the search box. • 3. Paste the URL into the search box immediately following link: (no space after the colon). The pages listed all contain one or more links to the page you are looking for. If you find no links, try a shorter portion of the URL, stopping after each /.

26. Use a Directory • Look up the title or publisher of the page in a reputable directory that evaluates its contents • Librarians' Index • Infomine • About.com • another specialized directory you trust

27. Look up the author's name in Google or Yahoo!INSTRUCTIONS in Google: Search the name three ways: • without quotes - Joe Webauthorb. enclosed in quotes as a phrase - "Joe Webauthor“ • enclosed in quotes with * between the first and last name - "Joe * Smith" (The * can stand for any middle initial or name in Google only).

28. Are these websites legit? • http://www.quackwatch.org/ • http://oncolink.com/ • http://www.probush.com/ • http://www.genochoice.com/ • http://www.martinlutherking.org/