How to Evaluate Internet Sources for Academic Purposes : Tips for Teachers and Students

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In the era of digital development, the process of learning and teaching has changed from a conservative way toward digital literacy. One of the impacts of the development of digital technology is the use of the Internet as a learning resource for students and teachers. However, it can not be denied that the development of digital-based education technology also provides positive and negative impacts for teachers and students. One example of the negative impact is the spread of learning resources in the internet world that is hoax or fake source.

Thus, to anticipate the negative impact teachers and students must have knowledge about digital literacy. So, what is digital literacy in education?

A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment. Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments (Barbara & Suzanne).

From the above understanding, we can understand that one of the ability of digital literacy is students and teachers able to search, select and evaluate the source of learning and reliable research references from the internet. Therefore, in this article I want to explain how to evaluate the source of the internet for use as a learning material and as a research resource.

Based on the explanation from the University of Edinburgh, there are 5 criteria that must be considered by students and teachers in choosing sources from the internet; they are Audience, Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity dan Currency (University of Edinburgh).

1. Audience
The first thing you should do in evaluating a source is to ascertain who the target of the article is or what content you are reading. Whether the content is written for a group of academics, children, or the general public. In addition, there must also ensure that content is appropriate or relevant to the intended target. Thus you will be able to ensure that the source and content are appropriate to your needs, both for your learning and as a source of research.

2. Authority
What you do next is to make sure the author of the content. This you need to know so you can be sure that the person writing the content is the person who has the credibility about what he wrote. So that the content you choose as a source has more value and in accordance with your learning needs or referral sources.

3. Accuracy
Next, you need to check the contents that there are no errors either written errors or grammatical errors. For a trusted journal, of course any published content has gone through the editing and verification process by an expert in the field. So there is no possibility of systematic errors in writing. You also need to make sure that a journal or source you choose has information about the bibliography and the research method used correctly.

4. Objectivity
Then, you should read the content whether the content is objective and not the author's personal opinion so it is worthy to be used as a reference for research and learning. In addition, you also need to check that the website of the content is not a personal website or a commercial website.

5. Currency
The last thing you should do is make sure that the information presented from the website is up to date. In the sense that in terms of information, links, and sources are constantly updated. Thus, the source you are using is not out of date.

In addition to the information, I will show you how you can ensure that the source you are using is from a trusted website. That is, the source you use comes from an authorized institution for academic purposes, not for commercial purposes or other covert purposes.

Source: University of Edinburgh