“Anyone can publish on the web.” “There is no oversight to what information is put up.” “You can find anything and everything on the web.” “Selecting the ‘best’ stuff is a real challenge.” “Information can disappear.” “The Internet has no ‘filter’ for quality, taste or reliability.” “Internet resources are rarely static.” “The web is filled with misinformation.”

Or alternatively:

The web has fostered interpersonal communication on a global scale. Ideas, experiences, advice, customs, literature, art, and music can be shared by anyone, with anyone, almost instantly. Information can be retrieved quickly and efficiently. The web has done more to connect us with other people than any other form of communication. In short, the web has created an information revolution.

Both of these views are true. However, Internet search engines rarely evaluate a source’s authority. Therefore, after you see the results of a successful search for your research topic, you should first determine which sources are the most authoritative and credible. Since your argument will only be as strong as the evidence that you introduce to support your claims, it is crucial that your sources be as credible and scholarly as possible.

Click here for worksheet

Here are five criteria to use when judging a site:

Authority---Who wrote the site? What are their qualifications? Is the author a scholar of the subject? Who published/hosted the site? Are there links to information about the author or organization? You can use the web to further search for information about the author or corporate body. You can use Whois (http://www.whois.net) to find the domain registration information. You can find when and by whom a domain was registered and contact information. If you can’t verify the author of a site, be cautious about using the information.

Accuracy—Is the information true? Can you verify it from other reliable sites or published material? Can you tell where the information came from? Are there cited sources? Is the information reliable and error-free?

Objectivity—Is the information fact or opinion? Can you identify a bias? Does the bias affect the credibility of the information? Is there advertising on the page that might compromise its objectivity?

Currency—When was the information published or last updated? Is it current enough to use for your research? How current are the links?

Coverage—Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose of the site? How in-depth is the material? What does this page offer that can’t be found elsewhere? Is it navigable and well-organized?

Choose one of the following web sites and critically evaluate it, using the criteria above, bearing in mind the site’s value if you were doing a paper on Nazi anti-Semitism.

Yad Vashem http://www.yadvashem.org/

Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance's Online Multimedia Learning Center http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/

Teachers' Guide to the Holocaust http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/

To access the Humanities Core Course Library web page for all the Discovery Tasks and other important links, go to http://course.lib.uci.edu/hu/writing/humcore/ .

Questions, comments, problems? Contact Cathy Palmer, UCI Libraries (cpalmer@uci.edu)