Tutorial Menu

  • Introduction
  • Web Address Wisdom

Evaluation Steps

  • Criteria
  • Author Identification
  • Define Purpose
  • Data Accuracy
  • Information Currency

Practice Activities

  • Valid or Void
  • Checking Facts
  • Analyze These

Credits

  • Resources

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Evaluation Criteria

When you go into a grocery store and compared products made by separate brand labels, how do you know which one to purchase?

  • Marketing tells you to go with the brand name you recognize.
  • Consumerism tells you to get the most for the best price.
  • Nutritionists tell you to use the list of ingredients and nutrition information on each product to choose the product that is most healthy.
  • Your body tells you to choose the one that will taste good no matter what the health implications.

The choice you finally made was likely based upon all or some of the data presented to you. Whether that was the best decision is another story.

When evaluating web sources, there are at least four (4) evaluation criteria that you should look at to ensure the quality of the data source. Those criteria are:

  • Author
  • Purpose
  • Accuracy
  • Timeliness

Knowing the criteria to look for and the questions to answer when evaluating web sources will assist you in completing your research. Once you have reviewed the criteria for evaluation, continue on to the Website Valid or Void activity.

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