Evaluating Websites
- Authority
- Who is the author? / Sponsor?
- Who wrote the info?
- Qualifications
- Why is the author qualified to write about the subject?
- Anyone can create a website and publish it
- Can we verify contact info?
- Address
- Phone #
- Accuracy
- What sources are used and are they listed?
- Who is responsible for the accuracy of the info?
- Is it a company website like Apple?
- Errors (usually a bad sign)
- Grammatical
- Spelling
- Can information be verified?
- How?
- Objectivity
- Purpose of the site
- Is it informational?
- Trying to sell you something?
- Trying to get you to believe something?
- Bias
- Is the info misleading due to the author’s bias or opinion
- Example: a political website may only tell one side of a story trying to get you to believe their candidate.
- Currency
- When was the info updated?
- Important for certain topics like technology
- Maybe not as important for something related to history
- Is info current?
- Even though a website is updated, not all info is current
- Look for dates that info was written
- When was it published?
- Coverage
- How much info is covered?
- Depth
- Summary
- Brief description of topic
- Outline
- Gives basic info covered but not in depth
- In-depth
- Detailed info
- Users need to decide if info from site is detailed enough for use