Friday, February 29, 2008

Evaluating Web Sites for Research: Part 5

When doing Internet research, there are some types of web sites you should be careful about using, and still others that you should avoid altogether.

Blogs: "blog" is a word that is short for "weblog" and refers to online diaries that people create on their own. A lot of blogs simply consist of subjective opinions that have little, if any, basis in fact. If you would like to cite a blog for your research, you must first check the blogger's credentials and their intentions behind posting the information.

"Wikis": sites such as wikipedia, lyricwiki and wikihow are open sites that can be edited by anyone, often anonymously. I would avoid these sites altogether, because you can never be sure of the reliability of the information contained in wikis.

Manufacturer's sites: If you are doing research on the health benefits of green tea, I would avoid citing the web site of a company that sells it, because its claims about green tea may or may not have been evaluated by the FDA. Manufacturers often make inaccurate or outlandish claims to boost their sales.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Evaluating Web Sites for Research: Part 4

Late last year I began writing a series of articles on how to properly evaluate web pages for your research. This week I will discuss an important thing to keep in mind when evaluating web pages: coverage. An Internet resource that is of high quality in terms of coverage will have links to other pages that have been evaluated and match the web site's theme. If the web site you are evaluating charges a fee or requires special software to view its contents, then you should go to another site for your research. Good web sites will also have a balance of text and images; sites that have too many images probably will not have enough information to be of use. Another thing to keep in mind is the citation of the information. Is it cited correctly? Is it cited at all? Be wary of sites that do not provide references for their information.

Next week I will provide more tips and pointers to help you get better at locating the needle of reliable information in the haystack known as the Internet.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Tuesday

Today is "Super Tuesday" in the national election for president of the United States. I have created a Super Tuesday display on the bulletin board across the hall from the library, explaining everything you ever wanted to know about this event, but were afraid to ask.