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University of Bradford >> Library >> Electronic Resources >> Quality in Information Resources
Traditional forms of information resource, such as books and journals, always go through a system of evaluation before you see them.
Books are edited before publication.
Journals are edited and also 'peer-reviewed' - checked by experts in the field. Consequently, especially in scientific research, they are regarded as the highest quality form of information.
In contrast, almost anyone can produce a Web page and put it onto the Web, so how do you know whether the information is valid?
Look critically at Web pages.
Look at the date, and be careful of undated information - it could be seriously out-of-date. Unfortunately, even highly respectable organisations sometimes leave older pages on the Web!
Particularly in research, scholarship builds on previous work. Look for up-to-date, relevant, appropriate references, including books and journals.
'Sponsored links' are found in most search engines. Organisations pay to be included at the top of a results list.
Sponsored links have their uses, but in general, for academic work, they can usually be ignored.
In Google, sponsored links appear against a coloured background and all good search engines make them easily identifiable.
Many journals are now available via the Web and you will occasionally find journal articles in Google searches. If you need journal articles, however, you will find that databases are a more reliable source.
For further help and information about assessing information quality please contact Anne Costigan (a.t.costigan@bradford.ac.uk)