Choosing Results: Intent and Content

In order to decide if a source is original, credible, and accurate, first consider the intent and content of the site. Here are some questions that you can quickly ask yourself as you look at a site: Intent: What is the purpose of the site? It's important to think about a website's primary purpose when you are trying to determine whether or not the content that can be found on that site will be useful for your needs as a student. A quick way to determine what a site's primary purpose is to identify the site as belonging to one of three general categories: Opinion, Commercial, or Reference. Opinion Sites often provide a wealth of information, but it's important to understand that these articles, reports and policy papers are intended to promote a particular viewpoint or position. Usually there are opposing viewpoints on these issues, but an opinion-based site will not provide these other viewpoints. Thus, if you want unbiased (balanced) information about a topic, an opinion site may not be the best source. Here is an example if an Opinion Site: a page taken from the British Communist Party website. Can you think of type of project where the information on this site might be useful? What kind of project would require you to keep looking for a different kind of information? Text taken from the British Communist Party website Like Opinion Sites, Commercial Sites are more likely to attempt to promote or sell something -- usually a product or company. Commercial sites often provide information about a company and products, and may offer a place for users to purchase products online. Commercial sites may also offer reviews of their own products, but beware -- will they be likely to tell both sides of the story, or should you look elsewhere for more balanced reviews? For example, the first few paragraphs of this site appear to offer some interesting and useful information about TurboCharging. This information is posted, however, as part of VolksWagon's corporate web site, so the information that is provided could be somewhat promotional and is probably not the best source if you are trying to write a scientific paper on the history of TurboCharging. Text taken from the Volkswagen website Finally, Reference Sites are sites whose primary purpose is to provide access to useful information and services. These sites are published by universities, government agencies, publishers, or individuals. Because these sites are not designed to promote a specific viewpoint or product, they are more likely to offer a full range of information on a topic. Text taken from the US Department of Agriculture website The bottom line is to ask yourself whether a site's primary purpose is to inform the reader or to promote an idea or product. If the site is truly informational, then you can proceed to the next step of checking the site's content. Content: Is the information presented in an appropriate, academic manner? Even if a site is intended to be informational, it's content may not be an appropriate type for the project that you are doing. Ask yourself: is the content of the site at an appropriate education level? Compare the following two examples: one is taken from a middle school website, the other is taken from Grolier's online encyclopedia. Which one do you think would be more useful for a school research project? http://www.berwickacademy.org/lincoln/lincoln.htm http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/bios/16plinc.html As you can see, many web sites can present similar information, but not all are built to be used for academic research and citation. Even if you find a site that contains relevant information, ask yourself: are there other sites that contain the same information, but which present it in a more academic manner? Up Next: The Three A's