The World Wide Web is a great place to go for information, but not all sources are valuable or reliable. The usual filtering system found in periodicals such as peer review and editing are not always there. Here are some things to look for when evaluating a web site. 

Authority

• Who is the author(s)? 

• Are the author's credentials listed (occupation, years of experience, position, education)? 

• From the information, does it seem that the author is qualified to write on the topic? 

• Is there a way to contact the author (email, regular mail, address, phone number)? 

Web Site Sponsor

• What sort of site is it (education, government, company, organization, personal)? 

• Is the sponsor a known or respected organization? 

• Does the author(s) seem to have an affiliation with the site or company? 

• If there is an affiliation, does the author's work reflect a bias? 

Reliability of Source(s)

• What appears to be the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, explain, persuade? 

• Where did the author get the information from? Are facts and figures documented? 

• Is there a list of sources? 

• Does the document seem fair or is there a bias? 

• If an argument is being presented, does it acknowledge and respond reasonably to opposing viewpoints, or are they ignored or distorted? Does it make broad generalizations? 

• Are there links to other sources? 

• Are they current and of high quality? 

• Are the links evaluated? 

Currency

• Does it mention how often the site is updated? 

• Does it give the date of the last revision? 

• Are the links to other pages and sites current? 

• How current are the facts and figures? 

The Organization of the Web Site

• Is it organized in a logical fashion? 

• Does it take a long time to load? 

• Are there too many graphics? 

• Is there an alternative text version? 

• Are there grammatical errors, spelling mistakes? 

More tips for web site evaluation