10_Guidelines_for_Determining_Internet_Credibility

10 Guidelines for Determining Internet Credibility Claudia Contreras CMGT/530 March 08, 2010 Averill Williams Second guideline would be the URL of the site itself. Researchers should be aware that websites ending with .com and .net are generally not as credible as .org, .gov, and .edu. There are some student sites that end in .edu researchers should be aware of it. In addition, there are websites that are published by individuals. They usually have (~) in the URL. Individual publishers can have their own agendas. These sites may not have the most credible information. Sixth guideline is to determine the content of the article. If the site was composed of opinions or facts' Decide if the article is describing facts or the author's opinions_. _Look for statements that begin with "I" or that have the words "me or my" such as "I think" or "From my experience". They aren't as reliable as those that quote experts "Experts recommend" or talk about research "Research proves". Sometimes the authors can be biased, they may be trying to sell a product, or make a political issue. The author needs to be objective and provide information from different points of view. Fogg, BJ., Marshall, J., Laraki, O., Osipovich, A., Varma, C., Fang, N., Paul, J., Rangnekar, A., Shon, J., Swani, P., & Treinen, M (2001, 31 MARCH – 5 APRIL ). What Makes Web Sites Credible' A Report on a Large Quantitative Study. Stanford University. Retrieved from http://captology.stanford.edu/pdf/p61-fogg.pdf. Kirk, E. (1996). Evaluating Information Found on the Internet. John Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/index.html UC Berkeley. Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask. [online tutorial]. Retrieved from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html WebCredible. (2004) Assessing the credibility of online sources. Retrieved from http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-credibility/assessing-credibility-online-sources.shtml.