It is apparent that many high school and college students turn to the World Wide Web for researching their projects, papers, etc. For example, this class was required to read Wikipedia's entry for "Internet".
Differences of opinion seem to exist about the use of web resources based on the legitimacy of the article in use. I personally have had professors accept many online citations, including Wikipedia. But some professors are displeased with their students' use of online sources, usually limiting or restricting them entirely. One UNI professor gave our class a handout specifically about the use of Wikipedia as a non-credible source. The department had even held a meeting on the subject and a disclaimer from Wiki was given (IMPORTANT NOTE.)
So is there any way to measure a site's credibility? When and how should online sources be used?
The fact is, Wikipedia is typically one of the initial sources students start their research with. And Wikipedia also provides external academic articles related to most of their entries. The best bet on finding credible online academic sources, like online journals or e-books, is to go through most library servers. The Rod library has a disclaimer about web resources. But they do provide a web site evaluation guide worksheet and another link to evaluation criteria (See disclaimer for these links.)
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