Citation
In order to check sources of information and review the material you find on the web it is necessary to be able to find those sites and to identify them properly. Use the forms provided below to cite the documents you find on the web. You will be using this as the title for the Web site annotated bibliography you will be doing for this course as well as using web sites as resources in papers that you write for other courses.
When citing a web page, the author of the document should
be given, and the title of the page should be easily identified. The URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) address tells us where to find this document
on the Web. It is provided in place of the information on the publisher.
The date the article was created should also be provided and the
date you visited the cite. It that is not given then the date that you
accessed the document should be provided. Here are some examples:
Example #1
| author | date created | title |
| Mori, Barbara | 1997 | Sociology 311 syllabus |
| URL | date visited |
| http://www.fmdc.calpoly.edu/libarts/bmori/syll/311syll/311Gendersyl.html | (Oct. 26, 1997) |
Example #2
| author | title of Web page | title of work | date created |
| Burka, Lauren P | "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions." | MUD History. | 1993 |
| URL | date visited |
| http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.html | (5 Dec.1994). |
EVALUATION
As not all information on the Web is equally valuable and reliable, it is important to have a set of criteria by which you can assess each Web site you find. Below is a series of questions that you will answer for each Web site you include in your paper. Use the form below for each of your web sites.
1. Web site name using citation form (see example):
Burka, Lauren P., 1993, "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions,"http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.html, (5 Dec.1994).
A. Search engine. Website description. What does it contain? texts? phontos? graphs? tables? (What do you see?)
B. Answers to the following questions:
1. Source and authority
Who wrote, created and/or published the information? What are their credentials? Is contact information provided? Are they affiliated with an established institution? Can information be verified through bibliographies or footnotes? Are sources acknowledged?
2. Scope and Content
What is the scope or content? How well does it cover the topic. Is this resource comprehensive, brief or unique? Is it original material or a secondary resource? Is the level elementary or advance? Is the form of presentation supportive or distracting?
3. Purpose and Relevance
Is the information intended to inform, explain or persuade? What is the author's or producers point of view or perspective? What is the degree of subjectivity or bias? What audience is being targeted, general, specialized or partisan? Did you find the material useful in understanding the topic you were researching?
4. Timeliness or Currency
When was the web page created? How current or up-to-date is the information? Is the site regularly revised? Is the information provided on your topic timely and valid?
This guide is adapted from the Evaluating and Citing World Wide Web Resources information put out by the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly.
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