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ENGL 1102 Dr. Hall: How to Evaluate a Website

Question

Would this website be a good resource?

Example

Using the example below, consider the following:

 

The URL 

  • What does georgiaencyclopedia.org suggest about this site?

 

Links

  • Do the links work? Broken links suggest the page has been abandoned. 

 

Author/Author Qualifications

  • Who wrote this article? 
  • Is the author qualified? 

 

Currency

  • When was this published? 
  • Has it been updated? 

 

Purpose/Bias

  • What does the tone of the writing convey? Several areas have been highlighted on this page from the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the URL, the author's name, Andrew K. Frank, the author's affiliation, University of Boca Raton. It provides that it was last updated on 9/16/2014 by a member of the NGE staff. The text at the bottom: Known as Cossaponakeesa among the Creek Indians, Mary Musgrove served as a cultural liaison between colonial Georgia and her Native American community in the mid-eighteenth century. Musgrove took

Understanding Information from the Web

Review the evidence:

  • The author is listed and has an academic affiliation

 

  • The article was updated recently. Even though articles about historical people and events have a longer 'life' than information about current events, new information can influence modern interpretation of the past. 

 

  • The links work, which means the site is maintained and managed.

 

  • The purpose of the article is to inform researchers about Mary Musgrove and Georgia history.

 

  • Bias is very limited; the author took care to provide information from multiple perspectives.

 

Conclusion: If a researcher needs good background information about Mary Musgrove and early 18th century Georgia history, this is a high-quality site.