Evaluating Internet Resources
In this information age we are surrounded by information sources, such as: books; journals; academics; audio-visual media; electronic and Internet resources. But not all these sources of information are equal in terms of quality, accuracy and reliability. This makes the critical evaluation of information resources a crucial step in the academic research process.
When writing your assignments, if you use poor quality information sources or cite misinformation, it will degrade the quality of your work. Therefore, it is your responsibility to carefully and critically evaluate the information sources you use to write your assignments.
The 7 pillars in the checklist below provide a good starting point to critically evaluating the value of information from electronic sources. The checklist provides a series of questions you need to answer in order to establish the information quality of the source.
Checklist
- Scholarly/Academic Peer Reviewed Journal Articles vs. Popular Information Sources
- Authority of Author / Publisher
- Accuracy
- Currency
- Relevance - including purpose, audience and coverage
- Objectivity
- Stability
Further resources
Website evaluation - an 8 page guide