SHASTA COLLEGE LIBRARY 11555 Old Oregon Trail  *  PO Box 496006  *   Redding, CA 96049-6006

      Books are often the resource of choice when you're after comprehensive coverage of an issue.  A quick glance at a book's title page and jacket will afford you a title, place and date of publication, author bio and credentials, and even some reviews.  Examine the preface, table of contents, index, and bibliography and you begin to gauge the volume's strengths, shortcomings, and bias.  But many important topics, especially those of a local nature, don't have the large readership that economically justifies publication of an entire book.  Other stories are too current to be well represented by the mainstream press (there's a lag of at least nine months between a book's completion and its publication). For these stories, the Internet, where publishing is inexpensive, instantaneous, and simple, is heaven sent.  But when anyone can publish anything, finding the right site among the billions and evaluating the information contained in that site requires a healthy measure of skepticism.
    This task is further complicated because the Internet is a medium where the author also serves as editor and publisher. The helpful publication information taken for granted in print books and magazines is often hidden or missing from webpages.  Determining bias and reliability requires some detective work and much critical thinking.  The Shasta College librarians recommend that each website visited be scrutinized for:

• Authority - Is an author named? What are his academic or professional qualifications? What else has he written?  Where else has he published? Can you contact the author if you have more questions?
• Accuracy - Veracity is difficult to determine if you are unfamiliar with your topic.  Begin your research with a published source (such as an online encyclopedia) then return to the Internet for additional references. You are now better able to judge if the data is reliable. Is the source of the data cited?  Is the webpage well maintained and well written? Broken weblinks, poor spelling, and sloppy grammar indicate a haphazard approach to research as well as reporting.
• Objectivity - What is the purpose of this site: To educate? To inform? To report on a study? To sell a product?  Who, in addition to the named author, sponsors the site: A school system or university (.edu)? A non-profit organization (.org)? A business (.com or .net)? The U.S. Government (.gov) or U.S. military (.mil)?  Does the site contain a detectable bias? Does the site advertise products?  What other sites are linked to or from the webpage that you are examining?
• Timeliness - When was the page most recently updated?  Is the data contained in the page current?
• Depth of Coverage - How detailed is the information? Is it repeating information that you already have or is it providing new data or a new perspective on the topic?  Is it the appropriate level of depth and sophistication for a college student?

• The Good
• Centers for Disease Control: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention
• City of Redding: City Council
• Friends of the River
• River of Words
• The Bad (or kind of silly)
• The Death Clock
• Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
• Origami Boulder
• Overpopulation.Com
• The WhiteHouse.org (compare with The WhiteHouse.gov)
• Women and Aids
• The Not Bad at All (but can you find the bias?)
• California Nations Indian Gaming Association
• FurShame
• WebMD (compare with Medline Plus)
• The Ugly
• Did Six Million Really Die? (compare with Introduction to the Holocaust)
• Martin Luther King Jr.: A Historical Examination (compare with The King Center or The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University)
• Anti-Aging & Longevity Research Project, Human Growth Hormone Research
          (compare with Alliance for Aging  Research )

• Evalutating Webpages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask (UC Berkeley)
• A Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web (Ithaca College Library)
• Ten Things to Know about Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web (National Institutes of Health)