In a previous adventure, we began discussing how one utilizes The Google to search for information in as safe and sane a manner as possible. In today's episode we'll talk about how to make sense of the results page and the resources provided therein. I like to call this,
"WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL OF THESE @#$%ING LINKS??!?"
"WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL OF THESE @#$%ING LINKS??!?"
In general, the goal here is to nab a few tools that help one evaluate the reliability of an informational resource. This is a handy skillset not only for students of pesky teachers like me (who demand it of them constantly) but also of actual humans in the actual world.
Author's note: Please keep in mind that I was trained as a bench researcher. I was taught to look for evidence and to back-up suppositions with data. I <3 data. Data, data, data. This definitely shapes the way that I find and evaluate information in the world around me. It can also make me a rather awkward dinner party guest.
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| Illustration by Jorge Cham, PHD Comics |
Okay. So. You've gotten thyself to Google and used some awesome search terms and now you have a results page, which is a list of links to web resources that you may or may not find informationally useful. First, let's acknowledge that It is a completely normal human impulse to start from the top and click on the first link on the list. It must be the most relevant, the most important, the most reliable, the most wittily-written - why else would it be the first link???
The thing is that several factors go into the order of links on a results page - in part this has to do with how well it matches your search terms and the overall quality/freshness of the website, but these aren't the only determinants. Google also considers how many other websites link to a particular web resource (a measure known as PageRank) in placing a site on your results page. The point is that the first link on your results page may be the "best" resource for the information you're seeking ... and it may not.
Check the domain
Before you start clicking, I suggest you scroll through your first page or 2 of results and perform triage. One quick-and-dirty way to do this is to check the domain of each resource. The domain is the suffix of a page's web address - for example ".com," ".org," ".edu". The domain can give you a rough idea of who/what organization is responsible for the webpage (Webopedia has a list of some common domains here). There are also ways to alter your intial Google search so that the results are limited to only certain domains - for example, if you want results from only educational institutions, you could limit your search to pages whose addresses end only in ".edu". While this can be a helpful practice, it is certainly not foolproof - just because a website is a ".org" or even a ".edu," that does not automatically make it informationally awesome. A website that ends in ".biz" is not necessarily a poor resource. However, performing such a check may allow you to be more targeted in your subsequent clicking, thereby making more effective use of your time and finger muscles.
The thing is that several factors go into the order of links on a results page - in part this has to do with how well it matches your search terms and the overall quality/freshness of the website, but these aren't the only determinants. Google also considers how many other websites link to a particular web resource (a measure known as PageRank) in placing a site on your results page. The point is that the first link on your results page may be the "best" resource for the information you're seeking ... and it may not.
Check the domain
Before you start clicking, I suggest you scroll through your first page or 2 of results and perform triage. One quick-and-dirty way to do this is to check the domain of each resource. The domain is the suffix of a page's web address - for example ".com," ".org," ".edu". The domain can give you a rough idea of who/what organization is responsible for the webpage (Webopedia has a list of some common domains here). There are also ways to alter your intial Google search so that the results are limited to only certain domains - for example, if you want results from only educational institutions, you could limit your search to pages whose addresses end only in ".edu". While this can be a helpful practice, it is certainly not foolproof - just because a website is a ".org" or even a ".edu," that does not automatically make it informationally awesome. A website that ends in ".biz" is not necessarily a poor resource. However, performing such a check may allow you to be more targeted in your subsequent clicking, thereby making more effective use of your time and finger muscles.
Look for advertisements
Once you've settled on a link to click, take a look at where you end up. In particular, pay attention to whether the website has advertisements or obvious sponsorship. If so, consider how this might impact the information provided by the resource. Finding that a website has ads or sponsors does not automatically make the information it contains inaccurate or biased; knowing this is simply something to consider in evaluating the reliability/potential bias of the information it presents.
Check the "About" page
Many web pages have an "About" page that tells a reader more about the individual/group responsible for the resource. Is this someone's personal webpage (and if so, what are that person's credentials? does the person seem reasonably qualified to share the information being imparted on the site?)? Is this a resource created by a governmental organization? Is the site produced by a group that might have an agenda such that the information could be biased? Again, none of these automatically tanks a resource but knowing who is responsible is an important aspect of evaluating the reliability of the information it contains.
Check for citations
As you read through the informational portions of the site, check to see if there is acknowledgement of its own informational sources. Are there in-text citations, footnotes or links? Are you, the reader, given the opportunity to view and evaluate the source material and draw an independent conclusion? A resource that does this may inspire added confidence in a reader; if nothing else, it gives you the ability to directly consult sources and make your own evaluation.
Trust your Dubious Eyebrow
We come now to the Holy Grail of resource evaluation tools, the researcher's best friend, that shining light in the darkness that is the internet: the Dubious Eyebrow.
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| "Oh really." |
Everyone has a Dubious Eyebrow. When it activates, pay attention. This is your cue that something is not quite okay with the resource in front of you. It's then up to you, the researcher, to determine what that is (is the resource's information not up-to-date? is the writer unqualified to be writing on the topic? are all the cited sources fictitious?) and whether it's a deal-breaker for using that resource. If yes, get thee back to your results page and try again. If no, determine how big an impact the not-quite-okay has on the usability of the resource and what is still salvageable.
In Short
The suggestions above are guiding principles I suggest for navigating informational resources on the internet. For folks who aren't in the habit of critically evaluating their resources, it can seem a bit overwhelming at first.
The suggestions above are guiding principles I suggest for navigating informational resources on the internet. For folks who aren't in the habit of critically evaluating their resources, it can seem a bit overwhelming at first.
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| No. |
Rest assured that with practice, this is habit-forming. The more often you engage in this process (when performing research for, say, a term paper), the easier/more natural it becomes and the more likely you are to unconsciously start employing it in every day life (when perusing articles friends have posted on Facebook or engaging in witty banter at the dinner table).
Credit for the knowledge I impart in this series goes to the following individuals, who have taught me pretty much all of what I know about informational research: Yvonne Piper, R.N., F.N.P, M.L.I.S., Patricia Elzie, M.L.I.S., Joel Burton, M.A. and David Patterson, Ph.D.
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