There is no overall editorial control over the internet, so anyone can write anything they want, and can claim to be anyone they like.
How can you decide what information is likely to be correct amongst all of the different websites available?
There are three simple questions to ask yourself when looking at a website that can help you to work out whether you want to rely on the information it contains. They act as a quick checklist to help you decide how reliable you feel the information is.
Try to find some information on the site that tells you who the author is. This could be in an 'About us' section, or in the contact details, if any are given. Does the author have some authority in terms of the information on a site? For example if it is a medical site, is it owned by a hospital or written by a doctor? Is the author a well known expert? Do they mention a number of books they have published on the same topic?
If an author is better qualifed, in terms of their education or experience in a particular subject area, it is more likely that the information will be reliable. Check that what they have written is objective: in other words, that it isn't biased to one particular viewpoint. However, sometimes those sites can have their uses too.
Often an author will explain the reasons for creating the site in an 'About us' section. See if the aims of the site match the content. If the site does present biased information often the author will explain why this is so, and this may help you assess the reliability of the information. Has the owner taken care to present the site, is it easy to navigate around and find online help?
Look for a date somewhere on the site to indicate when it was last updated. This is especially important if you are looking for up-to-date information. If the site aims to present current information but has not been updated for a couple of months or even years, it would indicate that the information is out-of-date.
One other indicator of quality is how stable the site is. If it is often 'down' or slow to load, it could indicate the information isn't very reliable.
To see some examples of good quality websites have a look at the OU Library's ROUTES database.
