Research Assignment #4: Evaluating a Website

For Research Assignment #4, you will evaluate three to six different websites. I recommend reading Robert Harris's Research Guidelines before you begin.

1. List each website you will evaluate and its address:

2. (B) ________________________________________________________

3. (C) ________________________________________________________

4. (D) ________________________________________________________

5. (E) ________________________________________________________

6. (F) ________________________________________________________

(For most of the remaining questions, you can simply write down the letter of the websites that are appropriate. You need only respond in writing to those questions below that have a number in front of them, but do think about the unnumbered questions as well in order to evaluate your website.)

2. Look for signs indicating the website is regularly updated. List the letters of the websites that appear to be regularly updated.

3. Look to see which of these websites are posted anonymously. If they are anonymous, ask yourself why do you think you (or the reader) should trust them even though they come from an unknown source. List the letters of the the websites that have an author or organization listed.

4. Which of these websites list contact information for the author or organization (e-mail address, mailing address, phone number) so you can verify the person or organization really exists by trying to contact them? List the letters of the websites that have contact information listed.

5. Is the author someone particularly likely to be a trustworthy source? Does the website list his credentials, experience, title, occupation or other relevant information? List the letters standing for websites that list the author's credentials or experience.

6. Is the author associated with a respected or well-known organization? Does that organization have an interest or investment in being impartial, accurate, and trustworthy? Does that organization have a financial or political stake in persuading you to trust its judgment that might make it biased or untrustworthy? List the websites that are connected to a well-known organization with a stake in their reputation as a source of impartial, accurate, and trustworthy information.

7. Which of these websites has organized its information into numbered sections or provided a means of citation for scholars and researchers? List the websites that have numbered sections for easy citation.

8. Which of these websites have a clear agenda, such as a commercial, political bias/motivation for its publication? Examine the address endings for the websits.e (For instance, .com, .biz, .gov, .edu, .org, .mil, or .mus.) What does this tell you about the nature of the organization? Does that bias alter the degree to which you trust the website? Should it? List the letters of websites that seem to have a commercial or political bias.

9. Ask yourself if the webauthor has taken the time to proofread her webpage. Has the author spent the time to create a a neat, visually engaging but easily accessible webpage? If not, does that sloppiness detract from the reader's trust? Why or why not? An occasional typo or grammatical error might mean nothing, but two or three within a few paragraphs might indicate this individual didn't spend much time on the project or might not be very professional. Write down the letters for webpages that seem particularly professional.

10. Is there any evidence of quality control? For instance, has the publication been "refereed" (peer-reviewed by other writers or editors)? Was it written by or for an organization that evaluates information before publication? If not, does it use quotations from such a source? Are there signs that the writer or author is incompetent, poorly educated, or apathetic about his project? List the letters of any webpages that show signs of this quality control.

11. See if there is any "metainformation," i.e., information about the information the website presents. This metainformation might be a review or critique of the webpage in another source, or a prestigious award given to the website by a credible source. Several websites dealing with Shakespeare have been awarded "Bess" awards, to indicate that the material is particularly good. The "Luminosity award" has been given to other websites for accuracy and timeliness. Sometimes, world wide web directories can be found that evaluate, review, or rate the source you are quoting. List the letters of any webpages that show signs of this metainformation.

Ask yourself how old each site is. If the site is new, that might indicate the creator doesn't have much experience yet. If the site is old, that might mean the information has been superseded by newer data. In other cases, the material might be of a "timeless" nature. Ben Franklin's personal autobiography will never be superseded because he is dead and will never write an other account of his life. On the other hand, a biography written by a historian in the 1920s on Ben Franklin might now be outdated if historians have found new information that replaces gaps in our knowledge or clears up past mistakes. You will need to decide if the age of a site is pertinent in determining its value to your project.

12. For what sort of audience is this material intended on the website? Remember, as Robert Harris suggests, "Information pretending to objectivity but possessing a hidden agenda of persuasion or a hidden bias is among the most common kind of information in our culture" (http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm). He's absolutely correct. The difference between a documentary and a commercial becomes increasingly blurred when each company or political party has a vested interest in appearing to be an authoritative, impartial, and reliable source. Does the website acknowledge disagreements in the field? Does it respond to the same issues appearing in other websites or ignore them? List the letters of any websites that seem geared toward scholarly and accurate research rather than a commercial or political agenda.

13. Does the website explain where its information comes from? Are any sources listed? Is there a bibliography or other documentation? Does the author provide contact information in case you wish to discuss an issue or request further clarification? Does the author explain how he knows the material? How do you know the author isn't just making up numbers and statistics? The most reliable websites will explain the processes or techniques used to gather their data. Do yours? List the letters of the websites that give this information.

Ask yourself if there are sources that corroborate the claims found in the website. It's always possible that a single organization or researcher is mistaken or lying, but that is less likely in the case of several separate sources. (Unless, like Mencken's "Great Bathtub Hoax," they all rely on a single source and they all quote it without verification.)

If any of the websites you listed above do not match all these criteria, will you discard them? If you keep them, what factors made you decide to trust them? How will you convince your readers to trust these sources in spite of that lack? Remember, it is rare for a single website to meet every single criterion for quality. The more qualities it does fulfill, however, the more trustworthy it probably is.