- Does the source include information that is pertinent to your own work?
- Does it clarify or enhance your understanding of the subject under investigation?
The User Context: The most important factor when evaluating Web sites is your search, your needs. What are you using the Web for? Entertainment? Academic work? Hobbies or avocational interests? Scholarly sources are traditionally very strongly text-based. Compare the appearance and the content of an academic journal with a popular magazine.
The Web Context: Some of the visual distinctions that signal the nature of content in print sources hold true on the Web as well, although, because the Web encourages wider use of graphics, Web versions of printed works usually contain more graphics and more color than their print counterparts. Color graphics appeared on the New York Times Web site before they appeared in the printed New York Times, for instance.
Compare the Web versions of Child Abuse and Neglect (NJIT only), Mississippi Review (free to the public), The New York Times, U. S. News, and the National Enquirer.
(source: Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA)