Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Reference Sources

[Front matter: sections, such as the Preface, Forward, Acknowledgement, Introduction, and Table of Contents, which come before the main body of text.]

Evaluating Internet Sources

Authority

1. Who sponsored the development of this source?
2. What can you determine about the reputation of the sponsor or publisher?
   What can you determine regarding the qualifications of the editor(s), author(s) or contributors?
3. What is the frequency, or how often is the work revised?
4. How current is the material or what is its publication date?
5. Are there footnotes, a bibliography, or other evidence of scholarly apparatus?
   Can you establish the source(s) of the data?

Authority

1. Who sponsored the development of this source?
   Check for institutional or organizational affiliations, named authors and editors, as well as webmasters, list moderators, etc.
2. What can you determine about the reputation of the sponsor or the publisher or about the reputation of the editor(s), author(s), contributors?
   Check URL's for 'edu', 'ac', 'gov', 'org', etc., to establish the domain of the site.
   Check College Blue Book, United States Government Manual, or Encyclopedia of Associations to verify status, if not reputation.
   Examine authors' personal web pages or listings for individuals within the website of their organization or institution. Consult Directory of American Scholars and other background sources as appropriate.
3. What is the frequency, or how often is the work revised?
4. How current is the material; or what is its publication date?
   Look for production dates, update dates, editorial/upload schedules.
   Note that date of composition is not the same as date of inclusion in a document or site.
   Be skeptical of numerous non-functioning links.
5. Are there footnotes, a bibliography, or other evidence of scholarly apparatus?
   The mere existence of footnotes or a bibliography is a pleasant surprise in an Internet resource. 
   Be suspicious of highly telegraphic citations, personal communications, press releases, and other hard-to-verify sources.

Purpose

1. For what kind of audience would the publication be most useful?
2. What does the Preface tell you about the purpose of the source or the aims of the editors/authors?

Purpose

1. For what kind of audience would it be most useful?
   Note: if this is a 'com' site, is it clear what they are selling? Remember: it may be an idea or a point of view, not a product or service.
2. Does the Preface tell you about the source's purpose or the author(s)'s/editor(s)'s aims?
   Look for "About this (site, project, etc.)"
   About (the author/ me)" documentation.
   Help files and/or User Guides may address some aspects of purpose.

Coverage and Scope

1. What does the front matter indicate about coverage and content?
2. Does the source cover particular:
   places (city, state, country, region)
   time periods (Roman Empire, Renaissance, 1700's, World War II)
   things (only people, only things, both)?
3. Is it broad (several places, periods, types of people)?
   Or is it specific (one period, one geographic location, one type of event, one type of person, or a single individual)?
4. Are the people covered living or dead or some of each?

Coverage and Scope

1. What does the front matter indicate about coverage and content?
2. Does the source cover particular places, periods, things, or people?
   See PURPOSE #2 above.
   Is there a site map.
3. How broad or specific is the coverage noted in #2?
4. If people are covered, are they living, dead, or some of each? 
   Unless the "About..." documentation or the site map is VERY well developed, these questions can only be answered by detailed exploration of the site.

Organization and Structure

1. How is the source organized?
2. Are there indices? Are they appropriate for the work? [authors, named subjects, topical subjects, place names, other?]
3. Is the indexing extensive, adequate or inadequate?
4. Is the style appropriate to the work? i.e. prose vs. telegraphic; formal vs. informal?
5. Are acronyms, abbreviations, and uncommon terms explained or defined?
6. Does the structure make the source easy to use? Why or why not?

Organization and Structure

1. How is the source organized?
2. Are there indices? Is there a site map?
3. Is the indexing extensive, adequate, or inadequate?
   Typical organizational devices of print resources such as scan-able indices or tables of contents are not standard for Internet resources, but are occasionally present.
   If the links are well-designed, they should function like cross-references.
   Look for a SEARCH function for the site and a HELP file with details on how the search function works.
4. Are acronyms, abbreviations, uncommon terms explained or defined? 
   There is no excuse in an electronic document for unexplained terms. The economies of print publishing do not apply here. HELP files, User Guides, and/or embedded links should supply needed amplification.
5. Does the structure make the source easy to use? Why or why not?
   In addition to considerations of ease of navigation and searching within a site, well-designed sites do not use proprietary formats for viewing nor do they expect arcane software for data capture.

Reliability

1. Are the aims of the publication stated in the front matter? Does the work accomplish all or some of those goals? Were these aims carried through in the work itself, in whole, in part, or not at all?
2. Are biases explicit or implicit?
3. Does the work seem balanced?

Reliability

1. Are the aims stated in the source (if there were any) carried through in the work itself?
   See PURPOSE #2 above
2. Are biases explicit or implicit?
3. Does the work seem balanced?
   See AUTHORITY #2 and PURPOSE #1 and #2 above.
   The number of commercial and personal sites on the Internet now outnumber educational, governmental, and organizational sites combined. Keep the sponsor and author in mind: do they wish to sell, advocate/persuade, entertain, or inform?