Evaluating Web Pages

There is a cute tutorial on web site evaluation from the Colorado State University Libraries!  Click the icon below to view

As the tutorial itself shows, because of the free, uncontrolled nature of the Internet, it is very important that you evaluate the information you find according to certain criteria.  I am pretty sure you remember most of them from our previous discussion about "weighing the value of your sources":

Authorship

 

Is there an author?

 

Can you contact the author?

 

What are the author’s credentials?

 

Anybody can publish anything the want on the web! Question the reliability of a web site when it's hard to determine its authorship. Even if a page is signed, qualifications may not be provided, in which case you should keep your skepticism until the reliability and qualifications of your source are established. Note that a good web site will include contact information for its author .

Sponsor/Publisher

 

Who sponsors, publishes, or hosts the document?

 

What is the domain: .com (commercial organizations); .org (usually nonprofit organizations);
 .edu (educational institutions); .gov (government); .net (organizations involved with Internet services or other commercial entities)

 

The domain/address of a web site may be a good indicator of the type of organization that may sponsor a web site.  Is the sponsor well-known, reputable? What is their agenda?

In general,  .edu, .gov, or .org web sites are considered relatively reliable sponsored by an educational institution, a government agency, or nonprofit organization respectively.  Note, however, that .edu web sites may also be the product of individuals such as students posting their papers or working on a project, which means that the information you may get may still be of questionable quality.
 

Currency

When was the document created?

Is the information current?

Has it been updated and when?

Are the links current?

If a date is provided, it often appears at the bottom of a web page. This date may have various meanings. For example, it may indicate when the material was first written, first placed on the web, or last revised


Content

Is there any bias?

Why was the document created? 

Is the purpose to state an opinion or to sell something?

Can you access all the information for free?

How well does it address the topic?

Are the links valuable?

As you look at the content of a web site, figure out if this page is a mask for advertising, which means that the information might be biased.  View any web site as you would an infommercial on television. Ask yourself why was this written and for whom?

Also, explore: does the web page include links that work? Are the links current or updated regularly?

Putting it all together
  • Authority/ Sponsorship. If the web page lists the author, his/her credentials and provides a way of contacting him/her, and . . .
  • Sponsorship. If the web page provides information about the institution that published it or its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org), and . . .
  • Currency. If the web page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . . 
  • Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information, and . . .
  • Coverage. If you can view the information properly—not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement, then . . .
You may have a higher quality web page that could be of value to your research!

Here are some examples of web sites for your evaluation:

FactCheck.org (hint:  what's the nature of the web site?  who put it together?)

Virusmyth (hint: can you find information on the author or sponsor of this web site?)

Herb Research Foundation  (hint:  how recently was this web site put together?)

Martin Luther King  (hint: who authors this web site?  what is their agenda?)