DRAM 2312 Oral Communication

Purpose

• What is the purpose? Is it to inform, persuade, present opinions, report research, or sell a product?
• Can you tell what the purpose is? (The purpose should be clear from the title or introductory screens.)
• Does the source fulfill the purpose?
• Are any biases evident?

Authority

• What are the author's qualifications? (Many Internet sources do not give the identity or credentials of the author or producer. Sources that do not give this information have questionable reliability. Wikipedia, for example, does not provide information about the authors of its articles.)
• Can you contact the author?
• Can the information be verified elsewhere?
• Is the site maintained by a well-known association or governmental agency?
• What is the domain? (Many Internet sources are not reviewed before being posted; however, government, educational, and organizational sites often have some sort of review process. If no review process is stated or evident, you may assume there is none.)
  • .GOV = government
  • .COM = business
  • .ORG = organization
  • .EDU = educational affiliation
• How permanent does the site appear? Has it existed long?
• How many other sites reference this site?

Timeliness

• When was the information published?
• How current is the information?
• Is the date of publication important to the subject matter? (In fields such as medicine, science, business, and technology, currency of information is important. In fields such as history and literature, older materials may be just as valuable as newer ones.)

Documentation

• Does the author refer to other works?
• Does the source have a bibliography?

Format

• Does the source have a clear, easy to read format?
• How easy is the source to use?
• Are there any special features, such as a bibliography, tables or charts?