Research on the Web:
How Reliable is it?
Whenever I speak enthusiastically (as I often do) about the World
Wide Web as a resource for student research, I get skeptical responses:
- Material on the Web isn't reliable.
Anyone can publish anything they want.
Students will just get a lot of misinformation.
That example does not, of course, disprove the claim that there is much misinformation on the Internet. The insistance that Jay Leno found Elvis's motorcycle in a barn in Iowa, or that the Good Times virus is going to wipe out all of our hard drives are examples. The former is minor (though it's no doubt a real annoyance to Leno); the latter is dangerous, since awareness of the Good Times hoax might make us less likely to take legitimate virus warning seriously.
Students will go to the web as an information source. It's more familiar to them than the library, and they know that once they've located a resource, it won't be checked out or have the relevant pages torn out. They may also know that there is information on the web that is not available from print sources. It becomes necessary, then for teachers to help students learn how to distinguish between sites which provide useful information and those with biased arguments, unsupportable claims, or misinformation.
Of course biased arguments and unsupportable claims exist in print too. Teaching students to analyze their web sources (which they understand can be unreliable--anyone can publish on the web) can also give them the tools for analyzing print sources (which they are more inclined to accept without question).
A number of writing teachers, librarians, and researchers have prepared guides for evaluating the reliability (and usefulness) of web sites. My own version is written specifically for first-year writing students, and can be printed as a class handout. Other evaluation guides, with different audiences, emphasize different kinds of evaluation.
Bruce Leland
Guides to Web Evaluation
Bruce's Student Guide to Evaluating Web Resources Checklist for an Informational Web Page, by Jane Alexander and Marsha Tate, Wolfgram Memorial Library, Wildner University Tips for Working with Internet Sources, Nick Carbone, Marlboro College Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources, by Esther Grassian, UCLA College Library Evaluating Internet Resources, by Wilfred Drew, State University of New York at Morrisville Evaluating Information and Citing Sources, Kelly Turzillo,Long Island University Evaluation World Wide Web Information, Anne Scholz, Purdue University Libraries Evaluating Internet Sources, Michael O'Conner, Millikin University St. Martin's Guide to Writing Online (Tips on credibility)
Directories of additional Evaluation Guides
Alastair Smith's Directory of Evaluation Sites Guidelines for Critiquing Web Sites, by Virginia Montecino, George Mason University Evaluation Resources, TWIST, University Libraries, University of Iowa Evaluating Web Sites, Roger Easson, Christian Brothers University
Related Sites
Practice Sites: A collection of web sites for analysis/evaluation, compiled by Janet Alexander and Marsha Tate, Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University Guides for Citing Electronic Sources Writing in the Disciplines at Western Illinois University Plagiarism and the Web "Don't Get Caught in the Web", a workshop site from Oklahoma Library Association Computers and Writing Conference, 1998 Internet as Research Tool, C&W 98 Pre-Conference Workshop Bruce Leland's Web Site
