Checking Validity of Internet Sources (Essay Sample)

Checking Quality Criteria
Name
Institution
Checking Quality Criteria
The advent of the internet age and subsequent ease of self-publishing has created problems in identifying and differentiating pure scientific research from invalidated internet opinions. Students and learners are expected to adhere and only use peer-reviewed and informed sources in the course of research. As a result, librarians and scholars have delineated several evaluation criteria that assist learners in identifying peer-reviewed sources. The five most common criteria are; accuracy, authority, currency, objectivity, and coverage.
http://psychologyinrussia.com/volumes/pdf/2009/18_2009_burmenskaya.pdf
The link above directs the user to a peer-reviewed journal article published in 2009’s first issue of Psychology in Russia. The title of the article is ‘Child’s attachment to mother as the basis of mental development typology.’ The first step in establishing the credibility of an internet article is to check the url and source of the journal. The article above was published in a regular scientific journal that is peer-reviewed by scholars from different parts of the world. The name of the writer is duly provided, as well as their credentials as a faculty member of the Moscow State University. The date of publication, an interesting pointer in quality evaluation, is also provided.
Other important factors to consider when assessing the credibility include objectivity and extent of coverage. The journal article is written in form of a research article that provides unbiased reporting. The literature review acknowledges the use of other writer’s information and ideas, and these are duly recorded in the reference list. The topic is widely covered in the article, even though the writer acknowledges the existence of limitations in their research.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development_stages
The link above presents a Wikipedia page that provides details of child development stages. Generally, Wikipedia is not considered a trusted source for scholarly material due to lack of credibility. The web page fails the credibility test due to several reasons. Firstly, the article does not reveal the name or credentials of the writer. This means that users cannot establish the authority of the writer in the subject area. Lack of a publication date robs the readers off the chance to establish the timeliness of the material provided in the article. In...