Unit 9: Evaluating the Internet
Lesson 4: Currency
Another issue to consider is currency: if the website is up-to-date. Ask yourself the following questions to determine the timeliness of the site.
- When was the website created? Look at the bottom of the page for a copyright date. Look for the © symbol.
- Is the information up-to-date? The date a webpage was last updated or revised doesn’t mean that all of the information is up-to-date. The author may have updated only part of the site. When a site was created and when it was last updated are two different dates.
- Does it matter if the site is old? A collection of Civil War letters does not need to be updated: the content or information won’t change. A website featuring the latest findings in science, however, may be outdated within days.
- Does the site have dead links? Dead links indicate that the author has not updated the site in some time. The site is probably out-of-date.
- Information in science, technology, and business tends to age quickly.
- Information in the humanities ages less quickly.
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