Evaluating Internet Sources

Information found on the Internet needs to be looked at critically, just as does information found in books and periodicals--maybe even more so.

Keep in mind that…

• almost anyone with access to the Internet can send out information or create Web sites and blogs, free from the watchful eye of editors or fact-checkers;
  
  
• the identity of the author or sponsoring organization for a Web site is sometimes hard to determine;
  
  
• information found on the Internet comprises many kinds: data, advertising, entertainment, gossip, research, policy, opinion, and combinations of these. Clear distinctions are not often made among them.
  
  

So how should an information-seeker approach this vast, unmanaged resource? Here are some guidelines to use when evaluating Internet sources....

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