Indicators of accurate information on a website include...
- the presence of an editor, fairly rare on the open web but common on the websites of trade and political magazines (e.g., Mother Jones); correct spelling and grammar; appropriate style for the intended audience;
- citations to sources used to develop the site such as books, articles, first-hand accounts, or other sources typically associated with academic research. Wikipedia, for example, has gotten much better at citing sources. Even when a site does not list citations, does the text reference other sources? Could you find those sources?
Ask yourself:
- Does the information fit with what you personally already know about the subject/topic?
- Does the information fit with other sources you have consulted on the same subject/topic?
- Are the data or primary source evidence (if presented) made available, and if so are they properly cited?
- What about an explanation of the research method(s) used to gather and interpret the data?
- Is the methodology appropriate to the question or problem.
- Does the methodology allow the study to be duplicated for purposes of verification?
- Even a popular work published in a magazine or newspaper that analyzes, editorializes, reports on or summarizes scholarly research should provide some of the above information.
Consult multiple sources of different types—not just open websites—to establish accuracy. Do not look at websites all linking to/from the same ultimate source. Bad information spreads as quickly as good on the web. Would a newspaper article, scholarly encyclopedia article, peer-reviewed journal article, and/or a scholarly book available from Gitenstein Library make better sense as a citable source?