Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Evaluating Web Sites 1: Accuracy

Accuracy ranks as the most important issue for me when I'm evaluating the quality of a website. I've found volumes of information about women and politics; women and international politics; and political blogs written by women. If the information found on these sites isn't true or is filled with spelling and grammatical mistakes, I'm not likely to believe what I'm reading. Likewise, if the information on a site is erroneous, I'm not as likely to use that site's links to additional resources. If I can't trust the validity of the source, why should I trust the source's recommendations?

Additional questions: Does the site provide the most accurate information available? Does the site incorporate a variety of accurate information? Does the site frequently spell words incorrectly or have serious flaws in grammar or editing? Does the site link to existing sites or have the links expired? Has the author updated the website recently to include more recent statistics and information? Are links to information that is also still relevant to the topic?

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