SUBJECT GUIDE FOR URBAN COASTS

Miscellaneous - Worthwhile Sites

This presentation evaluates Web Site resources related to Urban Coastal Research. Each site is evaluated based upon a set of criteria suggested by Jan Alexander and Marsha Tate, Reference Librarians at the Wolfgram Memorial Library. For a full description of their method see The Web as a Research Tool: Evaluation Techniques. This guide is limited to an examination of the home pages, or first page of, a Web presentation. A single presentation may contain numerous links to other pages within the same site and other sites. In the tables below there are five columns that are rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Click on one of the criteria for an explanation of the rating scale for that particular criteria.

Introduction

University and Private Research Organizations

National and International Governmental Agencies

Miscellaneous

Name of Site and URL	Coverage	Accuracy	Authority	Objectivity	Currency
http://infinitefaculty.com/cz97/ COASTAL ZONE 1997 Conference. Charting the Future of Coastal Zone Management: The Next 25 Years	4	5	5	5	5
http://www.zoology.ubc.ca:80/~megill/cerf/ Coastal Ecosystem Research Foundation	3	1	1	4	5
http://seagrant.orst.edu/crt/pubs.htmlSea Grant Marine Trades Publications	3	5	4	5	4
http://www.newport1.com/waterfront/ Newport, RI’s Friends of the Waterfront	5	4	3	3	5
http://www.portpitt.pgh.pa.us/ Port of Pittsburgh Comminssion	3	4	4	5	5
http://www.sej.org/env_airp.htm Environmental Journalism Home Page Links for Air Pollution	2	5	3	4	4
Would you like to add your site?	.	.	.	.	.

Criteria:

• Coverage- Are the topics related to urban coasts? Ranges 1 = a general marine or coastal resource site to 5 = a site devoted to the topic of urban coasts.
• Accuracy - How reliable and free from error is the information? Are there editors and fact checkers? 0 = this accuracy information is not provided, 1 to 5 = less to greater accuracy.
• Authority - What are the author's qualifications for writing on this subject? 0 = no authority information provided, 1 to 4 = less to greater authority, and 5 = a copyrighted government or research organization.
• Objectivity - Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? This criteria ranges from 1 = very biased to 5 = no bias detected.
• Currency - Is the content of the information up-to-date? 0 = unknown, 1 = 12 months or more, 2 = 9 to 12 months, 3 = 6 to 9 months, 4 = 3 to 6 months, and 5 = less than 3 months.

Created by Karen Mulcahy Wednesday, May 07, 1997