Skip to Main Content

Research 101: Evaluating Information on the Internet: Documentation

Find out how to avoid a catastrophe when you engage with a web site!

What do we mean by documentation? Documentation is when an author provides the sources from which he or she has retrieved any data or information that the author doesn't already know. Documentation can also refer to any sources cited from which an author has taken any information, opinions, or ideas at all. Quality documentation helps substantiate an author's claims and help foster credibility.. 

Getting Something that is Documented - What You Can Do

checkmarkDetermine whether the author has provided any documentation for the information provided

checkmark Identify where the information provided comes from 

checkmarkDetermine whether the sources from which the information came are good ones! Use the same criteria on them as you have used on the content of your web page/site that you have read.

Face looking down and smilingGood Documentation: What to Look For

checkmark Look for a list of References, or Bibliography - a list of sources for any information or data provided in the text (view sample reference list here). If there is no list of sources, look for links to outside sources within the web page content itseslf.

checkmark  Look for any links in the References, or if they are not there, in the text itself to sources the author has used to provide the information or data that you find in the text

checkmark  Look at tthe quality of those sources that are being cited and/or linked to.  Use the same criteria on them that you have used on your text!

Take the Challenge!

Take a look at thie article from NPR on brain damage in football.

Then answer the following questions. Click on the questions below to compare your answers to ours.

It is found within the web page content itself with links to outside sources.

If you look at where the sources link, we think they seem to be fairly good quality sources.

  • One link is to concussionfoundation.org, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the study, treatment, and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes and other at-risk groups.
  • There are also links of two doctors referenced in the article, and they are experts in the field.
  • One more source links to another NPR article on concussions. While this is an internal document and itself does not provide specific information on quality, it does provide more information and links to a study and more sources to explore.

While this is a news article, it does link directly to its sources, and the sources appear to be of good quality. So it passes that part of the test very well. It looks like this might be good information. But while it has passed the Documentation test, it is still not itself a research article on brain damage nor written by a qualified medical practitioner or researcher.

Therefore, rather than using it in a research paper or presentation or making decisions based on the information provided, we would pursue the sources it cites, especially the studies, and read those. And if you were to write a paper or give a presentation on this topic, depending on the length and scope of your paper or presentation, you might also want to consult additional sources to make sure that critical information is not lacking and that you have the most current information on such a topic.