Always evaluate websites for information quality and reliability because anyone with a bit of knowledge about computers and the Internet can put information on the World Wide Web.
Academic research is different from personal research because academic research requires current, correct, and well-documented information written by institutions/people who are authorities on their subjects.
Sites should be unbiased UNLESS biased information is useful for a particular assignment.
The World Wide Web is a place of business, and sites that want to sell products or services have a different purpose from sites that exist to educate.
Use these ABCs as a guide to critically evaluate information on the Web.
The New Oxford American Dictionary describes bias as:
“prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.”
Sometimes it is easy to determine if a particular website is biased especially around a controversial issue, other times it can be extremely difficult to determine a site’s bias. It is especially difficult to determine bias when an author does not state their credentials when posting an article on a website or a blog or when reviewing a site that uses a name that doesn’t give away its purpose.
Here are some tips for determining bias: