1.3 Evaluating the results of the search

Table of Contents

1. Validity of information
2. Reliability criteria
   1. Expertise and reputation
   2. Lack of bias
   3. Opposing views
   4. Equal emphasis
   5. Accuracy
   6. Currency
   7. Establishing currency
   8. Indirect methods of establishing currency
3. Measuring the success of a search
4. Structuring and saving of search results

Expertise and reputation

If you can see that the website is supported by a reputable organisation or contributed to by a person with known expertise then it is reasonable to accept the website as being reliable. Examples would be where a website giving medical advice was run by a government department or a well respected charity eg. NHS direct at http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ or Cancer Research UK at http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Another more trivial example is that you would expect to find reliable recipes at Delia Smith's website http://www.deliaonline.com/

Now let's have a look at Lack of bias...