You have carried out a search on the internet for the development of fracking in the UK and found a number of different websites.
Look at the two websites in the examples below and apply the What, Why, When, How, Where and Who evaluation criteria to each website to make a judgement on how useful it is as part of your academic research.
The initial impressions of this website are that it starts from the assumption that fracking is wrong , uses strong emotional language to put its point across and does not offer any conflicting viewpoints. There are a long list of links relating to Fracking information under the resources tab which includes similar websites and also a few pro sites at the end. As you delve deeper though there is a section focusing on the Science and Data they have used to form their conclusions. There is even a reference to the Tyndall Centre at the University of Manchester - a climate change research group.
the site is focused on proving that Fracking in the UK is detrimental to the health of the environment and that of the communities where the fracking is taking place.
there is no upload or ammendment date on the main home page so we have no idea of when the information has been added. At the end of the homepage there is a comment which was posted on September 2011. If you click on the Latest tab you can view the dates that the information was posted on the blog with the latest being June 2013 so the information is recent.
What can we tell from the site about the qualifications of the author? I couldn't see any specific information on the homepage about who was responsible for the information on the site. The "Contact us" tab is an anonymous form where you can send your questions so there is no contact names there either. In the latest tab the posts are not anonymous as they have been posted by radix but we can't tell who they are and what experience/qualifications they have on the subject of fracking.
The website contains personal posts and a wide variety of re-posts some of which are from the scientific community. The site also has the feel of a personal blog rather than an academic one.
The data was collected from a variety of sources some of which are verified academic sources e.g. Nature - the International Weekly Journal of Science. Other sources include TruckGauge a susbscription site for those industries interested in the trucking industry.
This is a UK Government website detailing the "Information, publications, guidance and data relating to onshore exploration and production, including mapping, seismic activity, wells, and licensing and regulation". This is a political website so it will include bias as the current UK Government is pro fracking and has comissioned a number of reports and surveys to see if fracking should go ahead in the UK. It links to a wide range of scientific / goverment bodies including the Royal Society of Engineering, the Environment Agency and the HSE (Health Safety Executive). The tone is less emotional than the Frack Off site and more factual.
In 2011 the North West of England experienced two seismic tremors which led to the suspension of fracking as the event was investigated. This website includes the scientific evidence collected during the investigative process and an independant assessment of the event from three leading experts in seismology.
The website has been updated on a regular basis with the last update on the 27th June 2013 and there is a named contact on the homepage.
the website contains links from a wide variety of scientific sources who are experts in their particular fields e.g. the Department of Energy & Climate Change and the British Geological Survey. At the end of each document you can view the bibliography which is the full list of references that illustrate the range of sources consulted as the documents were written. The information is aimed at those in government and also the general public to inform them of the investigation into the seismic tremors and the conclusions that were drawn from the investigation.
The reports have been published on the UK Government website
The data was collected from a range of academic sources with the conclusions backed up by verifiable data.
At this point you would have to look at the different sources of information used on both the sites to make your own judgement on wether you should use it as a reputable source.
Think about the What Why, When, Who, Where and How when you are looking at an internet resource.
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