Evaluating Web Sites

You've heard the HYPE…"The Internet has EVERYTHING" But is that the truth? Does it have everything, or just a lot of things? Is everything useful? Is everything the truth? The answer to that is definitely "NO" But how do you tell a good Web site from a flashy bad Web site? Which Web sites will help you with your research, and which ones will give you a bunch of bogus "facts"? Here are some guidelines to help you choose between useful Web sites and GARBAGE:

The 5 W’s Who Where When Why What

Who Look at the author of your website. Is it by a famous, well-respected organization like UC Berkeley, or the US Government? Web sites that have good authors do not try to hide this fact. Beware of web sites that don’t let you know who has written them or what their qualifications are. Ask & answer these questions: Who wrote the pages & are they an expert? Is a biography of the author included? How can you find out more about the author?

What What is the goal of your Web site? What is the viewpoint? Is it to give people facts, or is it trying to sell something? Is the Web site made to inform? Is it made to persuade? Many websites are trying to sell you something. Is the website you’re looking at made to help people via research or talk them into buying something.

When Look at the date of your website. When was the website created? Does the website say when it was last updated? Is the information old or new? Are the links to other sites still working? If they are not, you can guess that the author is not working on this web page and the rest of the information might be out of date.

Where Where does the information come from? Most authors of good websites will tell you where they got their information. Beware of authors that don’t tell you where they got their information. Did they do their own research? Do they give you a bibliography of the sources used? Is the Web site written by an organization that is famous for their research?

URL’s as clues to content.com = commercial sites (vary in their credibility).gov = U.S. government site.org = organization, often nonprofit (some.orgs have strong bias and agendas).edu = college or university site.mil = U.S. military site.net = networked serviced provider ~ = personal site (Be a little suspicious of personal sites. They are not endorsed by the institution on whose server they reside.)

Why Why is this information useful? Why should I use this information? Why is this page better than another? Does the information answer your questions? Is the information related to your research? The best information in the world is not useful if it doesn’t answer the questions that you have. Maybe you need to look for another site that discusses what you are looking for.

One last question… Can you defend this source to your teacher?