2. Is the Information in the Web Page Accurate?
Verifying WWW
Information
---Author 
Case Study:Pesticides
---Accuracy
Case Study:AIDS
---Objectivity
Case Study:"andro"
---Currency
---Case Study:Population
Exercise
---Bill Clinton
---Cell Phones
---Maps
---Smoking
Checklist
---summary printout

 

 

 What if the author doesn't provide information about themselves? How do we check the accuracy of their information? Below are some suggested questions and techniques to use to check accuracy
  1. Can the information on the page be found in a non-related source?
  2. Does the web page give sources for the information found on the page?
  3. Does the web page contain grammatical and spelling errors?

To see examples and learn more follow the above links. 

Case Study 2: AIDS

Can the information on the page be found in a non-related source?

There are three ways to check to see if a fact is accurate.  Each involves looking for that fact in another reference:

  • Is the information found in written library references
  • Is the information found in non-WWW online references like Britannica Online, Electric Library or NewsBank
  • Is the information found in another non-related web page?*
* A non-related web page is defined as one which comes from a different source.  This can be found by inspecting the URL.  For example:

A fact found on www.aidsfacts.com/cure/protease.htm 
could not be checked accurately be finding it mention at: www.aidsfact.com/facts/new.htm 
because both sources come from aidsfacts.com
 

A Web Search to Verify Accuracy

Let's see how accuracy can be checked by look for the questioned information on the WWW.  Look over the next 2 examples.  Try to get a general sense of whether they appear to be a good source of information

Example#1

Example#2

Both appear to good sources.  
The first page is created by a university and a doctor has written the information.  At the bottom is a list of sources of information.  

The second is a map put together by the United Nations, an organization with a strong reputation.

A close look at Example #1 though shows facts that seem "unusual" such as " Married women can reduce their risk from AIDS by 73.8% if they do not share their toothbrushes with their husbands."

Lets try to verify this fact on the WWW.  Below is an AltaVista Search Box.  Copy and paste this phrase into AltaVista:

+AIDS +"married women" +toothbrushes +73.8%

Search and Display the Results                       

The only result is the original page.  No one else claims that sharing a toothbrush causes AIDS

The information on this page is false(scroll to the end of the page and read)

top

Does the web page give sources for the information found on the page?

Just as an author cites sources in a paper or book a web page that includes well researched information should contain a list of the sources or a bibliography.  Unlike text though the web page may have links to its sources.  Check these 2 example

Example #3 (scroll to bottom)

Example #4 (look for links to sources in the article)

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Does the web page contain grammatical and spelling errors?

If a writer has not been careful with grammar and spelling, then we must question if they  have they been careful with facts.  That question can be used to identify pages whose facts are suspect..  

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Page created by J. O'Donnell, Tech Mentor, Andrew HS, Tinley Park IL last updated on 03/01/00