Evaluating Online References
Help Students Identify Reliable References on the Web
Before the Internet became a popular information source, it was easier to locate reliable references for educational purposes. Resource books and professional journals undergo peer reviews and multiple layers of editing. Students could reliably find good sources for their research as long as they kept to the non-fiction section of the library and stayed away from novels and other books labeled as fiction.
The Internet is not conveniently sectioned into fiction and non-fiction. It is not always that simple to determine whether or not a source is reliable or accurate. Web pages can be updated frequently, whether intentionally or through malicious activity. A good set of keywords in a search engine is not always enough to find a reliable source.
Reliable Sites
Encyclopedias are as reliable as they used to be and are now found online. The benefit to this digital format is that they are updated when necessary, without the need for new editions or supplemental books. Sometimes an account is necessary to access full articles or descriptions. Check with the school or public library to see if there is an account available for student use.
Similarly, many magazine and newspaper articles are available online through subscriptions to databases such as the SIRS Database and EBSCO. These sites typically have subject experts review the article for accuracy before making them available.
Another source for reliable digital references is a site that specializes in the topic. For example, a student researching space exploration would find reliable information at sites maintained by NASA or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Students looking for data about seatbelts or car safety in the United States could visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Unreliable Sites
In general, anything found on a social networking site is not reliable. Social networking sites, such as MySpace, FaceBook and LiveJournal, are sites that encourage social interaction more than facts. The digital content on their pages changes frequently and even if the author is an expert on the topic the information may have been changed maliciously by another user.
Questionable Sites
Several sites have become popular sources for information but do not always contain credible information. Wikipedia is a source of frustration for many teachers who receive numerous complaints from students when they find that it will not be accepted as a reference. Answers.com provides resources from publishers worldwide, but its reliability is sometimes questioned by teachers due to its association with WikiAnswers, which allows anyone to make changes to its knowledge base. Blogs are frequently sources for opinions rather than facts, but some of them are maintained by experts or refer to credible resources to support the author’s opinion.
Any site that claims to have information, but is not associated directly with an expert on a topic, is questionable as a reliable source. Students need to be directed to check references listed by these sites, or conduct further searching about the author, before using them for information.
