evaluating information on the web

It is now easier than ever for anybody to create a website and post information on it, which may not be valid or authoritative. Therefore it is of great importantce that students are able to assess whether information is scholarly for use in the Bachelor of Design.

The following questions are a good starting point for learning how to effectively evaluate information from websites:

• Who wrote the information?
  • Does the author hold any qualifications in the field? Or does the author work as a professional in the field?
• How is the information written?
  • Newspaper and glossy magazine style articles are not scholarly. Read through the information and make a judgment, based on the language, whether the intended audience is scholarly. If the writing is more colloquial be aware that the information may not be as in-depth/scholarly as needed for assessments
• What is the website address?
  • While you cannot base your evaluation solely on the website address, you can make general assumptions about the information
  • Information on .edu (educational), .gov (governmental) or .org (organisational) websites are generally authoritative, while information on .com (commercial) may be influenced by the company's activities
• When was the information last updated?
  • The field of design is constantly changing, so it is important to check how recently the information was updated. Generally authoritative websites will state the date the information was last updated/reviewed
• Which other websites link to the information on this website?
  • If a government, educational or oganisational website links to the information you have found, it will generally mean that the information is relevant or authoritative. However, you still need to check how up to date the material is, as the page may have been linked a long time ago
• How long is the piece of information?
  • If the piece is only brief, the information may be superficial
• Does the author/website cite any references?
  • If the information has been referenced from other sources, it is generally speaking of a scholarly level