1. The Internet
What Sites Can You Trust?

2. What Are We Looking For?
• Credibility
• Accuracy
• Bias/Objectivity
• Timeliness
• Relevance

3. Credibility
Do you trust the source
– Are they qualified?
– Can they be trusted?
– Will they stand behind
the information?
O’Halloran, Thomas. Walter Cronkite on Television, 1976.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walter_Cronkite_on_television_1976.jpg, Creative Commons License.

4. Credibility
If you’re looking for information on a
pediatric nursing career, would you
use this web site for the Pediatric
Nursing Certification Board…

5. Credibility
The answer
came from this
person…
Or an information from
Yahoo Answers?

6. Credibility
…but what do we know about Sabeltora?

7. Credibility
Check the history of the
article to see who wrote it…
What about this
Wikipedia article?…

8. Credibility
Recent contributors
include ClueBot NG
and Roast Pork!
How would that look in
your Works Cited list?

9. Credibility
Go directly to the source
of the information!
But don’t forget to
evaluate the quality of
that source, too!

10. Credibility
But there are credible web
sites available. This is from
the US Dept of Labor, Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
Government agencies are
considered a credible source.

11. Credibility
Address Example What is it? Credible?
includes:
.com or .net www.mcdonalds.com Commercial or Depends on the web
www.angelfire.com/~joespage personal web site . Learn about
sites. the person/group
responsible
.gov www.epa.gov Government Yes
Agencies
.edu www.hacc.edu Educational Yes (usually)
www.si.edu Institutions Beware of student
web sites.
.org www.americanheart.org Organizations Learn about the
www.wikipedia.org organization, first.
www.martinlutherking.org Anybody can get a
“.org” address.
What does the web site’s address tell you?

12. Credibility
Use Google’s advanced search
to find specific types of web
sites. (.org, .gov)

13. Credibility
In this example, you will only
have government web sites in
your search results list.

14. Credibility
Creative commons license: “ Steiner, Peter. “On the internet, nobody knows you’re
a dog.” (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Internet_dog.jpg)

15. Accuracy
• Do they provide references?
• Is the information consistent with other
sources?
• Shocking (unbelievable) information?
• Professional appearance?

16. Accuracy
Some web sites provide false
information as entertainment.

17. Accuracy
Some are Hoax web sites. They’re
trying to fool you! (Maybe just for
fun)

18. Accuracy
Professionally done? Watch for:
•Unattractive
•Hard to read
•Personal web pages
•Crowded with ads

19. Bias/Objectivity
• Are all viewpoints covered?
• Fact or opinion?
• Purpose? To…
– Entertain
– Persuade or sell
– Inform
• Is it emotionally charged?

20. Bias / Objectivity
NRA – will promote all of the
positive aspects of gun ownership.
May leave out the negative
arguments.

21. Bias / Objectivity
Brady Campaign – will promote all
arguments showing that gun
ownership is bad.
May leave out the positive
arguments.

22. Bias / Objectivity
Vicks will tell you how
great NyQuil is!
Negatives? Only the things
that the government
makes them say!
http://www.vicks.com/products/nyquil/cold-flu-liquid-medicine/

23. Bias / Objectivity
The National Library of
Medicine will promote
just the facts about
NyQuil.
They want you to make
an informed decision on
whether it is good or not!
http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=28319

24. Timeliness
• How old is the information?
• Can you tell how old it is?
• Could it be out-of date?

25. Timeliness
Nurses training info from 1978. Too many changes if you’re looking
for career information.
OK, if you want to know what training was involved 30+ years ago!

26. Timeliness
Always look for a date
published or updated. If
none are found, be
cautious.

27. Timeliness
Government web page (Center for
Disease Control).
Do you see a problem, though?

28. Timeliness
Would you use this web page to
help decide on a new phone?

29. Timeliness
This recipe was posted on
1/1/1995! Is it still ok to use it?

30. Relevance
• Audience – who is the web site intended for?
• Is it too detailed or too vague?
• Coverage – does it cover the correct time
period or geographic area?

31. Relevance
You’re writing a paper for your political
science
class about how a bill becomes a law…
The next 2 websites are both good
government-sponsored web sites.
Which is a better source for your college
paper?

32. Relevance

33. Relevance

34. Relevance
How did Bob Casey vote on ___
amendment on Feb 8, 2011?
Should you look in his biography?

35. Relevance
Or should you dig a little deeper?

36. What Are We Looking For?
• Credibility
• Accuracy
• Bias/Objectivity
• Timeliness
• Relevance