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The Internet is a repository of variable sources. There is quantity, of 'variable' quality, which is where your evaluation needs to come in. It ranges from Harvard University, through collections like JSTOR and EBSCO, to personal websites. Amidst all this, ask yourself certain basic immediate questions, such as:

• has it got an 'academic' tag (US = edu, UK = ac.uk) ?
• is the writer an academic at a recognised institution ?
• does the material come from a self-evident academic journal ?
• if the material is scanned, etc., is the original written text source given ?

Having said that, material that is more eclectic or populist is not necessarily invalid, since after all it can stand as something of a 'primary source' in its own right. However, you are still left with the challenge of evaluating it, as with traditional written sources - evaluating it both as a type of source, and evaluating it for its actual content (see general advice on texts).

FOLLOW-UP SITES:

Can you do serious history on the Web ? Smith, AHA Perspectives, 1998

Historians and the Web, McMichael et al, Perspectives (American Historical Association) 1995

Using the WWW to teach History, Classics and Archaeology, Cameron, LTSN Briefing paper 7

Evaluating Internet sites for academic use, Cameron, LTSN briefing paper, 2

Web evaluation techniques University of Vermont

Why its a good idea to evaluate web sources New Mexico State University Library

Evaluation of Web resources 'Websearch' website

Setting the digital frontier, Pitti, Berkeley Finding Aid Conference, April 1995, paper

The Internet in Universities. Liberation or Desensitisation ?, Pickering, website paper

Hypermedia - when will they feel natural ? , Pickering, website paper

Danger - hypermedia at work !, Pickering, website paper

The hypertextbook, Pickering, Paradigm: The Journal of the Textbook Society, 1994

Academic Buddhology and the Cyber-Sangha: researching & teaching Buddhism through multimedia and Internet sources, Greider, conference paper, 2000

Digitzation and the revolution in the media of Buddhist and Asian Studies: where have we come, and where we are going, Muller, website paper

Cyberconsciousness, Houston, Yes. A Journal of Positice Futures, 2000

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