Lesson One: Defining Your Topic

Lesson Two: Finding Periodical Articles

Lesson Three: Finding Web Sites

Lesson Four: Evaluating Web Sites

Lesson Five:  Finding Books

Lesson Six: Evaluating Information

Lesson Seven: Citing Your Sources

HCC Library Research Resources

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Lesson Four:
Evaluating Web Sites

Now that you've learned how to search the web, the challenge becomes selecting what you need out of the millions of web sites available.  Applying the criteria below will help you evaluate web sites and select the best sources.

Reasons why you need to evaluate web sites:

• The quality of information varies from web site to web site. 
• Anyone can publish on the Web. 
• Unlike books or magazines which have an extensive publishing process, many web sites have not been edited, proofread, or verified for accuracy.

Consider these factors when evaluating web sites:
Author

• Who created the web site?  To find the author, check the top and bottom of the page.  Look at  the main home page.  Be wary of a site that doesn't have an author or sponsoring organization. 
• What are his/her credentials/qualifications? Does she have a doctorate or is she a high school student?   
• What institution or organization is he/she affiliated with?  Check the URL (address) for hints.      
  • .edu = education 
  • .com = commercial 
  • .org = organization 
  • .gov = government 
  • .net = network 
  • .mil = military

• When was it created?
• When was it updated? You can usually find the date at the top or bottom of the page or the home page. Be suspicious if no date is given. 
• Are there any dead links (links that go nowhere)? 

• Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose of the site? 
  • To inform?
  • To persuade?
  • To entertain?
  • To sell you something?
  • Or is it a personal web site? 

• Is the site research-based?  Does it provide empirical evidence, scientific observation or experimental data, to support its argument?  Or is the evidence based on anecdotal information that is unscientific? 
• Are all points of view represented or is the site biased? 
• Can you find another source that verifies the same information? 
• Does the author include a bibliography or cite other information sources?  
• Is the information free of grammar and spelling errors?