Quality of Information ---> October 13, 2008

In today’s reading Research strategies for a digital age by Bonnie Tensen she explains how to determine the quality of information online. She states on pages 72 the key differences between search engines and subject guides. Tensen explains how “Yahoo! organizes its search mechanisms around subject categories.” Every search engine does not follow this same set of steps. “Many search engines use “robots” or “spiders” that rank pages according to algorithmic programs. These programs search the whole page and look for the keywords in the text (Tensen, pg 72).” Subject directories on the other hand use “guides”. Tensen define the job of “guides” as, “steering the user to the most appropriate sites and help them avoid inaccurate and/or unverifiable Web pages.” This is why a directory would be more useful for research rather than a search engine. These are many of the ways that data is retrieved but there is more to look at when it comes to validity of content.

There are many things that have to be observed when looking at Web pages to find it suitable to use. Tensen gives six valid points to look at when reviewing an online source. They are purpose, source, intended audience, date of publication, appearance, and reputation (pg 80). These are all great areas to look into before using any publication for a resource. I think the areas that would give the piece of writing the most credit would be the purpose why they wrote it and the intended audience. Hopefully with students using these check marks teachers will not second guess online content as much.