INLS200 Retrieving & Analyzing Information

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02 Jul 2007 - Source Evaluations - Websites

[evaluating websites] [source evals - websites] [readings for next time]

Overview

Much of this course will be spent exploring a variety of types of information sources, print, electronic, and human. These sources will form the basis of a portfolio to be assembled.

 You must write three evaluations for information sources that you consult during your research. These sources may or may not ultimately yield information that is useful to you in your research, and you may or may not cite these sources in your final project.

Here is an example of a website evaluation.

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Task 3 - Website Evaluation

Three source evaluations will be due during the semester

1.  one on a website
   •  This must be an evaluation of an entire website, not just one or a set of pages on a site. This must be a site on the free web - that is, not something that requires a login (though sites that require registration are ok if it's a free registration)

I encourage you to discuss search strategies in class and on the list as you explore various sources.

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Discuss the process

To facilitate the identification of appropriate sources, you must participate in the discussion on information sources on the class list.

•  You are required to post your three source evaluations to our class list as email attachments. Enter the topic you are researching in the subject line of the email you send to the class list with your attached evaluation. This will permit members of the list to easily see topics they are interested in commenting upon.
• In addition, you are required to comment on at least one posting from a classmate per source evaluation assignment (that means three in all).
  • For example, student A may post an evaluation of the indexes published by the Public Affairs Information Service.
  • Since this source is also pertinent to student B's research question, student B takes a look at this source, and posts additional evaluative comments about the source.
• You may, of course, post additional comments about sources or methods for searching them, and may respond to as many postings as you wish.

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Condition

The website evaluation should be 1-3 pages (double-spaced) and include the following 7 parts:

1. A complete citation for the website
   • This citation must be in American Psychological Association (APA) format. APA is the citation format most commonly used in the social sciences. If you are not familiar with this format, you should locate a style guide. The following links may be helpful with this format
     • The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the definitive guide to APA format. Every reasonably sized library should have a copy of this
     •  The APA maintains a website about how to cite electronic sources
     • NC State has a tool that helps you create a proper APA citation.
2. Strategy for finding the website
   • How did you find the website?
   • What database, book, bibliography, etc. did you find this source in? (if appropriate)
   • What was your rationale for selecting that website? In other words, why did you think that website would be useful for your research?
3. Rationale for selection of the website
   • Why did you think that the website would be useful for your research, before you reviewed it?
   • (Whether or not the website in fact turned out to be useful; you'll discuss that later.)
4. General evaluation of the website:
   • The authority, scope, intended audience, and currency or timeliness of the website.
   • Select the evaluation criteria that are most appropriate for evaluating this particular website.
   • List each and write a short explanation of how well the website fulfills the criteria.
     • You will find these resources helpful in writing this section of the portfolio entry
       •  For All Entries
         •  Quaratiello, A. R. (2000). The College Student's Research Companion. New York: Neal-Schuman. Evaluating What You've Found, 134-138. Covers authority, content, accuracy, and currency
       •  For Websites
         •  Widener University Library. Evaluate Web Pages Tutorial
         •  Alexander, J. E., & Tate, M. A. (1999). Evaluating Web Resources: Web Resource Evaluation Techniques
         •  PowerPoint Presentation
         •  Links from the "Original Evaluation Checklists" list
   • Other criteria you might choose to use
     • audience, primary vs. secondary, scholarly vs. popular, logical consistency, search features, functionality
5. Example strategies used to search within the website
   • How did you find information within the website?
   • What terms did you use to search the website?
   • How did you combine these terms?
   • What other strategies did you use to find information within the website?
   • What were the results of your searches within the website?
   • Keep in mind that many searches are conducted in multiple sessions, so your search strategy should evolve as you work with a website over time. For each website, your evaluation must include what you consider to be an exemplary search strategy for that website and a brief discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy. This discussion will conclude with a brief summary of your evaluation of the information actually yielded by the website.
6. A brief summary of the information yielded by the website
   • This follows up your rationale for selecting the website: your rationale for selection is why you thought that the website would be useful before you reviewed it; this section should explain how your opinion of the website changed once you actually reviewed it. This section should answer the following questions
     • What information does the website as a whole contain?
     • What information does the website contain that is relevant to your research question?
     • How does the website help you (or not) to answer your research question?
7. A revised draft of your research question, if one is needed

After reviewing each website, your research question may change radically or slightly. Include your revised research question and a brief description of the reason(s) for the revision. As the semester progresses your question will come to be better formed, so it is likely that it will change less as you review more websites. If your research question does not change after reviewing a website, write that up as well and give an explanation of why the website did not cause you to revise your question.

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Standard

Points: 10% of course grade per source evaluation = 30 % for all three evaluations

The website evaluation should include:

• an evaluation of an appropriate website (e.g., an entire website rather than a single webpage)
• a discussion of your strategy for finding the source
• a discussion of your rationale for selecting the source
• a discussion of example strategies that you used to search within the source
• a brief summary of the information yielded by the source
• an evaluation of the source according to the evaluation criteria discussed in class, and any other criteria that are appropriate
• appropriate spelling, grammar, & writing style

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• The standards which will be used for grading this task are listed on the downloadable gradesheet.
• Use this template to ensure that your website evaluation is formatted according to standard.
• But we also have one administrative standard which will be constant throughout the course.
  • use a common file name structure for all documents you turn in as an email attachment or as a file I can download from your web space
  • the structure takes advantage of how operating systems want to index things
    • LastName.FirstName(s).YYYYMMDD.TaskNN.descriptor.(file extension)
  • an example might be
    • Bergquist.RonEd.20070701.Task03.Website_evaluation.doc

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