Computers and Composition 23 (2006) 444–461 How the views of faculty can inform undergraduate Web-based research: Implications for academic writing Rena Helms-Park a,∗ , Paul Stapleton b a Linguistics, Division of Humanities, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, Ont., Canada b Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan Abstract The steady increase in the use of Web sites as sources in undergraduate research-based papers has raised concerns about the suitability of these reference materials for citation and about the ability of undergraduates to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate sources in academic writing. While informal means of evaluating Web sites are in existence, there is a need for Web-source assessment criteria that not only focus on the use of these particular sources in introductory undergraduate writing programs but also closely match the requirements of faculty within a specific academic field. This paper identifies elements of a prototypical rating instrument for students in Humanities courses based on the results of a three-part survey of faculty members in a Humanities Department (N = 31) and highlights the divergence between criteria that faculty found crucial and those that many undergraduate students appear to be using in their Web-based research. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Academic writing; Web sources; Web site evaluation; Writing pedagogy; Electronic literacy; Faculty expectations and student priorities 1. Introduction Reference materials in academic papers have traditionally been sought from sources found in libraries, which house publications that are, for the most part, deemed appropriate for citation in scholarly writing. Print sources such as books, journals, and government publications are commonly cited in students’ academic papers, and few questions arise about how these should be assessed. It is clear that we are in an era that is witnessing a rapid shift toward a new way of sourcing and in which literacy now encompasses the notion of “electronic literacies” (Shetzer & Warschauer, 2000). Being literate has taken on a more fluid meaning than before and includes the ability to understand and assess information packaged in electronic form. The on-screen image, for instance, is not only more pervasive than before but is actually influencing print materials in reverse. Gunther Kress (2003), for example, argued that print media were ∗ Corresponding author. Email addresses: rhelms@utsc.utoronto.ca (R. Helms-Park), paul@ilcs.hokudai.ac.jp (P. Stapleton). 8755-4615/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2006.08.003