When using resources from the web, you must carefully evaluate the source before utilizing its content. The following criteria can help you evaluate resources:
Domain - The quality of information and the type of URL are interrelated. A ".gov" or ".edu" URL is more trustworthy than a ".com" or ".net". A ".org" URL will require deeper investigation, as it then depends on the type of organization.
Authority - Is the author's name visible? What are the author's credentials? Is contact information for the author available?
Currency - Is the website up to date? Websites with information that is updated regularly are preferable to those that are left out-of-date or recycled too often.
Bias - Anyone can create informational content online. Look out for a works cited list and advertisements to evaluate the bias and possible inaccuracies in the information.
Origin - How did you find this source? Was it recommended by a faculty member, cited in a scholarly journal article, or linked by another trustworthy website? Where you got this information can indicate how reliable it might be.
Functionality - If the website contains broken links, is difficult to navigate, and malfunctions often, then it reflects poorly on the credibility of the information.
CRAAP Test
How do you know if you have found reliable information? The CRAAP Test is a list of questions that you can use to evaluate the information that you find.
Currency: the timeliness of the information
Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs
Authority: the source of the information
Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content
Purpose: the reason the information exists
Scholarly sources, typically academic journals and articles, are written by researchers and/or experts in a field and undergo the peer-review process before being published. The peer-review process requires authors to submit their research to a publisher who will then share their work with other experts in the same field to review and evaluate. These experts will then determine if the information the author is presenting is credible.
Examples of scholarly sources include:
Journal of American History
Psychological Review
Nature
Annals of the National Academy of Science
Journal of the American Medical Association
Popular sources, typically periodicals such as magazines and newspapers, are written by journalists and/or staff who often write about a broad range of topics without necessarily being an expert on that topic. Outside of an editor making sure the article is well-written and some basic fact-checking, there is not an extensive process regarding what information gets published. Information found in a magazine or newspaper may still be trustworthy and accurate, but additional evaluation is needed.
Examples of popular sources include:
The New York Times
Newsweek
National Geographic
Psychology Today
Wall Street Journal