Evaluation of Sources Practice

Imagine that you have chosen to use the Internet to find several credible sources for a research paper over the
differences between herbal remedies and over-the-counter drugs. Utilizing the criteria outlined in the Five
Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages handout, carefully examine at least three of articles below and answer the
following questions about them. Remember to also review the rest of the website (including information on the
homepage) for important clues that may apply to your evaluation.

Code Blog: Tales of a Nursehttp://www.codeblog.com/archives/tales_from_the_ccu/and_were_back.html

PubMed Centralhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695418/
CNN http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/01/moh.healthmag.remedies.avoid/index.html
Natural Newshttp://www.naturalnews.com/028103_Gigi_Jordan_Big_Pharma.html
Pfizerhttp://www.pfizer.com/news/press_releases/pfizer_press_releases.jsp?rssUrl=http://
mediaroom.pfizer.com/portal/site/pfizer/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1020733&
newsId=20100208005815&newsLang=en

Location:
1. Write down the title and URL of the article you are evaluating. What does the domain (.com, .org, .gov, etc.)
tell you about the information?
a. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/01/moh.healthmag.remedies.avoid/index.html - the .
Com is a general www website that anyone could open. It is not particularly funded by education or
government.
Authority:
2. Who is the author and is she/he an authority on the subject? How can you tell?
a. Sara Klein from health.com. Klein is an author for the magazine Health, so it is possible to assume
that her information is accurate.
Accuracy:
3. Are there spelling, grammatical, or citation errors? If so, how do they impact credibility?
a. There were no grammatical or citation errors.
4. Is a bibliography provided so that you may verify the information? If statistics or quotes are used, is it clear
who the sources are for those materials? Does the website provide links to related sources?
a. No bibliography was provided but links to the website health.com were available after the
information used from the website was noted.
Objectivity:
5. Is the websites content primarily factual or argumentative? Do you detect any biases, or is information
presented in an evenhanded manner? Give an example.
a. The article seems to be purely factual. There is no detection of any bias from the author. The author
is just listing some medical facts from herbal supplements and what kind of risk they can have.
Herbal remedies such as ginseng, ginkgo, garlic, black cohosh, St. John's wort, hawthorn, saw
palmetto, and echinacea can dilute, intensify, or exacerbate the side effects of prescription heart
drugs such as blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering statins, the report says.
6. Are there graphics or images, including advertisements, in the article that are used to influence the user? If
so, give an example and explain its significance.
a. There are a couple advertisements on the article. There is also a picture of the different herbal
remedies that are available over-the-counter. Both advertisements are for the CNN television
channel. At the bottom of the website there are also sponsored links to different sites. This could
influence the user by saying that other sources are paying to be presented on the article, so this is a
source that receives a lot of traffic.

Currency:
7.
Is there a date listed for the last update? Are the links current? What do these aspects tell you about the
website?
Content:
8.
Are the purposes of the website and article clear? Explain.
9.

Is the article scholarly, general interest, or popular in nature? Discuss how the nature of the information
might or might not work in the context of an academic paper.

Other:
10.
On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent, rate the (a) applicability and (b) credibility of
the information. Explain your ratings.
a)
b)
Adopted from http://library.usd383.org/mhse/internet_credibility_worksheet.htm