It's Online, but Is It On Target?

Using the Web Wisely

• Who authored the Web page? If you can’t identify the individual or organization responsible for the information, don’t use it.
• What are the author’s qualifications for writing on the subject?
• Has the article passed through an editorial process designed to ensure quality and accuracy?
• What is the website’s purpose? Look out for motives, like selling products and winning votes, that could result in biased or incomplete information.
• Is the information accurate? Is it up-to-date?
• Where did the author get this information?

• Dot-com usually indicates a for-profit business. Dot-coms include well-known and respected newspapers, as well as businesses whose main concerns are profits.
• Dot-org usually indicates a not-for-profit organization. Many dot-orgs present unbiased information, but others have political agendas, focus on debatable issues instead of facts, and might not present all sides of an argument.
• Dot-net probably means that you’re looking at a personal website. A tilde (~) in the address is another strong clue. Remember: anyone can write something and post it to the Web.
• Dot-gov indicates a federal government website. The government is a good source of statistics and its sites are widely considered among the most reliable.
• Dot-edu indicates a university website. University sites are also considered very trustworthy. However, anyone associated with a school, whether a world-renowned scholar or a freshman, can be given space on its server. Professors sometimes put student course work up on the Web, but that doesn’t mean they’re vouching for the information’s accuracy.

• Look for facts you know or can check out with a trusted source. If the article has those right, it’s more likely that information new to you is also accurate.
• Study the language the writer uses. Is it angry, satiric, ironic, overly impassioned? Or is the language appropriate for an unbiased source of information?
• Are the arguments logical? Are they backed up by evidence? Do the conclusions make sense given the evidence?
• Does the author acknowledge sources? Expect a bibliography for scholarly writing.
• As always, presentation counts. Consider everything from design to spelling. A clean, thought-out site indicates a certain degree of professionalism.

• Check out the home page and the About Us page. Look for a mission statement to learn more about the site, its purpose, and the organization sponsoring it.
• Look for a biography of the author that discusses the author’s education, profession, and other relevant background. If there is no bio, look for one elsewhere on the Web.
• Use the traffic rankings search box on Alexa, a Web navigation tool, to search for sites that link to the site you’re investigating. Do any reputable directories link to the site?