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HLTH 101 Research Guide

Evaluate articles and websites plus link to authoriative APA style guides.

Primary/Secondary Sources, Websites, Evaluation

This page offers some suggested government and agency websites,  plus criteria to help you evaluate research materials:

  • Primary vs. Secondary Sources
  • Helpful Government Agency Websites
  • Evaluating Websites

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

The linked PDF handout below shows the differences between primary and secondary sources.

Helpful Government Agency Websites

Evaluating What You Find on Websites

You will very rarely find information from scholarly journals on the World Wide Web.  However, the following guidelines are important to consider when evaluating web sites to use for academic research.

Authority:

  • Is it clear who is responsible for the web page?
  • Is there a way of verifying the page’s sponsor? (An email address is not enough).
  • Is it clear who wrote the material?  Are their credentials clearly stated?
  • If the material is copyrighted, is the name of the copyright holder given?

 

Accuracy:

  • Are the sources for any factual information clearly cited for verification?
  • Is the information clear of blatant grammatical, spelling and/or other typographical errors?
  • If there are graphs or charts are they clearly labeled?  Is source information given?

 

Objectivity:

  • What is the purpose of providing the information?  (Public service, profit, or persuasion)
  • Is the information free of advertising?
  • If there is advertising is it clearly differentiated from the informational content?

 

Currency:

  • Are there dates on the page indicating when it was written?  When it was last revised? 
  • Are there indications that the material is kept current?

 

Coverage:

  • Is there an indication that the page is complete and not still under construction?
  • If there is a print equivalent, does the page state if the entire work is on the web or only parts of it?

 

(These criteria based on checklist in the book Web Wisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Information Quality on the Web by Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tate)