Evaluating Websites
- 1. Evaluating Websites The Good, the bad, and the ugly…
- 2. Why does it matter? The World Wide Web has a lot to offer, but not all sources are equally valuable or reliable. Anyone can put anything on the web without being censored or verified. It is difficult to sift through the information to evaluate it.
- 3. Authority - What is the AUTHOR'S expertise? How much experience does the author have in this area? What is the author's occupation? What is the author's educational background? What is the author's reputation among others in the field?
- 4. Why evaluate the author? Anyone can author information on the Internet WITHOUT approval. The content of most Web pages is published BEFORE it is evaluated by people with knowledge of the subject. Books, magazines and other print resources are published AFTER thorough reviews by experts.
- 5. How do you evaluate? Look for other pages by the author on the same site or other sites. Find additional pages by or about the author. Look for a header or footer showing affiliation.
- 6. Is the Publisher reliable? Look at the URL. http://www.fbi.gov Look at the domain. . edu, .com, .ac.uk, .org, .net Is this a national or international organization? What is the mission of the organization? Is this site sponsoring the author's page or just providing web space? Does the site provide a contact for further information?
- 7. Why is it important? Knowing about the organization that sponsors a site can sometimes provide clues for further investigation. Educational, non-profit and commercial sites tend to sponsor different kinds of information. knowing the name is no guarantee of quality.
- 8. How do you know? Identify the domain of the site (what are the last letters of the URL?). Look for "about this site" links and follow them to find what the organizations have to say about themselves. Backtrack through the hierarchy of the URL (also known as truncation). This will often take you to the main home page of the organization where relevant information may be found.
- 9. Accuracy and Objectivity Is the information reliable and error-free? Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information? Does the information show a minimum of bias? Is the page designed to sway opinion? Is there any advertising on the page?
- 10. Why does it matter? The accuracy of factual information can tell you something about the care the author took in preparing the document Can provide clues to (lack of) expertise or potential bias in the ideas represented in the document.
- 11. How do you check? Cross check factual data with other documents on the web by searching for other pages containing information about the facts. Even checking spelling and grammar can sometimes provide a clue about the care taken in creating a document.
- 12. Is it Current or Fresh? Is the page dated? If so, when was the last update? How current are the links? Have some expired or moved? Does the date of publication affect the reliability of the information? Does the date the document was last updated affect the reliability of the information?
- 13. Coverage What topics are covered? What is covered here that can’t be found anywhere else? What is its intrinsic value? How in-depth is the material?
- 14. Why is coverage important? Web coverage often differs from print coverage. difficult to determine the extent of coverage of a topic from a web page -may or may not include links to other web pages or print references. Sometimes web information is "just for fun", a hoax, someone's personal expression that may be of interest to no one, or even outright silliness
- 15. Let’s Watch a Clip…
- 16. Bibliography http://21cif.imsa.edu/resources/tips_OLDProd/evaluate_tips http://www.islma.org/resources.htm#website http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html Discovering Language Arts: Research Skills (Grades 9-12). Discovery Channel School. 2007. unitedstreaming. 27 September 2007 <http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>