Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites

Types of websites

.com – commercial; .gov – governmental, .mil – military, .org – organizational, .net -- network

Author

• What is the author’s credentials
  • Where do they work (university or research facility, for example)?
  • What is there educational background?
  • What else have they written and is the source you are looking at their area of expertise?
• Have you seen their name cited by other authors?
• Are they affiliated with a reputable institution or organization?
• Can you find an about or information page? Is there contact information?

Currency

• When was it published?
• When was it updated or revised?
• Are the links up to date (i.e. no broken links)
• Is the information still relevant? Or is it outdated for your chosen topic.

Authority

• Who is the publisher?
  • Does it list the publisher’s credentials?
• What is the domain name? Where was it published?
  • .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil
  • .com/fr (denotes France as the country)

Content

• What is the audience for the source?
• Why was it written?
• Is the author objective? Does the source display a bias?
  • Is it factual, propaganda, or opinion?
• How detailed is the information?
• Is there evidence of research?
• Are there mistakes on the page?
  • Poor grammar, misspelled words

Coverage

• Is the information primary or secondary?
• Is it organized in a logical way?
• Is it easy to read?
• Is there a fee to obtain the information? (this does not include subscription based journals which require a fee to purchase access to an article)