Evaluating Websites
What should you be looking for?
A) Content:
Does this site cover the topic comprehensively? Is it written in a level you can understand?
What is unique about this site? Does this site offer something others do not?
Are there links to relevant information?
Can you tell the date this page was created? Last revised? Are the dates meaningful in terms of the subject matter?
Would you get better information from a book or an encyclopedia?
Would you include this site in your bibliography?
B) Authority:
Who is responsible for this site? Who sponsors it?
Have the authors of this site cited their own resources? What is the domain name? Is it a personal page? Who else links to this site?
Hints about Authority:
Who wrote this site?
HINT: If you truncate the URL you can sometimes back it up to see the author of the site.
HINT: If you Google the author’s name, it will list other sites linked to the author. Another way to see other sites linked to this one (link: and the url.-This does not work for the Tree Octopus.)
What is the domain? .com, .gov, .org, or .net?
HINT: .gov=official government page
.edu or ac= are educational and academic sites.
.org= not for profit organizations. Be careful of .orgs.
.com or .net anyone can publish. Be careful. It does not mean good information cannot be found. You just need to think critically.
Hints about Author:
HINT: personal pages usually have a persons name following a ~ or % or have the words “members” or “users” as part of the URL
HINT: Look for links that say “About Us”, “Background”, or “Biography.”
IF you can’t find the author, see if you can find the organization
C) Bias:
Why was this site created? (to persuade, inform, sell, parody, promote?)
Can you distinguish facts from opinion?
Is the argument only one-sided?
D) Usability and Design:
Is this site easy to navigate?
Is it well labeled? Are there content areas? Are there any errors in spelling or grammar? Do the pages appear clean and uncluttered?
Do the links on this site work?