Evaluating Websites Just because you found it on the Internet, doesn’t make it a good site.

Alphabet Guide to Evaluating Websites A B C D E

A Can you find an author for the website? Can you contact him/her about their site (email, phone, address)? Does the author list his/her credentials, or evidence of expertise? Is this the author’s personal website, or part of a larger organization? Does the author list his/her sources & where the information came from? What is the domain name of the site (.org, .gov, .edu, .com)?

B Does the website have an obvious bias? Does the information appear to be one-sided (all positive/negative)? Or does the website try to show a balanced view of both sides of an issue? Does the website include slurs or inappropriate language when referring to the subject? Does the website contain more opinion than fact?

C Does the site cover the content comprehensively? Are there obvious errors in the content? Are there spelling and grammatical mistakes? Is the information at your comprehension level, or is it too easy or too difficult? Does the site leave you with lots of unanswered questions?

D Does the website have a creation date? Is the site regularly updated? When was the last update? Is the information out of date?

E Is the website easy to navigate? Do all of the links work? Is the site neat and well-organized? Or is it scattered and hard to follow? Can you easily link from one page to the next, or are they dead links?