- Introduction
Learn- Try It
- Task
Learn
Plagiarism Issues
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Consider the Source
It is crucial that you evaluate a website if you are going to reference it in your writing. Choose those sources carefully! Use information that will enhance your writing by supporting your ideas, giving more detailed information for further research or validate your work as true.
When you are searching the Internet, don't just pick the first website that pops up. (It's usually an advertisement, anyway!) Appearances can be deceiving, so do your research.
- First of all, consider the author.
- What can you find out about the author?
- Is the source legitimate and credible?
- Does it appear to be trying to sell you something?
- Always notice the date of publication.
- Has it been updated recently?
- Does it look professional and free of spelling/grammar/typing errors?
- As you read into the text, do you find the tone to be objective or prejudiced?
UAB Libraries' Evaluating Internet Sources is a great guide for assessing your web source reliability in regard to authorship, accuracy, objectivity, and current date. It also has a printable form to help you evaluate the website.
The American Association of School Librarians' Evaluating Internet Sources is another good guide to helping you judge the dependability of websites.
Cite Sources
A style manual will help you organize your references according to a commonly accepted format.
In your ACCESS classes, you are required to use MLA (Modern Language Association) format to cite sources. For citing help, consult the ACCESS MLA Citation Tutorial.
Read What Is Citation? to get a better understanding of citation.
