Evaluating Websites Using the 5 W’s

What is the Internet? The internet is a vast source of information from around the WORLD. REMEMBER : You can’t always find EVERYTHING. Anyone can publish information on the internet. NOT EVERYTHING is useful.

WEB ADDRESSES Look at the web address (URL) to get more information. DOMAIN NAME: This contains the name of the person, company or organization hosting the website. For this example: you are on media-awareness. The.ca indicates the site is hosted by a Canadian institution. DIRECTORIES: This shows the directories and sub-directories leading to the page you are on. For this example: the /eng signifies the English section.

Evaluating Websites When reading a newspaper article, you were taught to look at the 5 W’s. This same method will work for evaluating a website. The 5 W’s (and 1 H) Who What When Where Why How

WHO Who is the source of the information? Who wrote the pages? Is he/she qualified? Is there a biography on the author? How can you find out more information about the author? BEWARE of websites that that don’t let you know who has written them. Search for the author and conduct a quick background check to get more information on him/her.

WHAT What does the author say is the purpose of this site? What is the viewpoint? Does it seem biased? Does it offer more than one viewpoint? What is the website trying to do? Ex: give facts, or trying to sell you something. What makes the website easy to use?

WHEN When was the website made? When was the website last updated ? Evaluate if the date effects your research on this topic. Are the links still working? CONSIDER - If all the links are out of date, much of the information may be out of date also.

WHERE Where does the information come from? Did they do their own research? Did they read newspapers, magazines, or books? Do they provide a bibliography? Where can you look to find more information about the producer/sponsor? BEWARE of authors that do not tell you where they got their information from?

WHY WHY is this information useful to you? Does it answer your questions? Does it help you with your assignment/report? WHY should you use this information? WHY is this website better than another? The best information in the world is not useful if it doesn’t answer the questions that YOU h ave. - s fpl.org

When in doubt, doubt. Trust your instinct. Double check your facts and sources – and then check again. HOW can you tell what’s what?

CLASS ACTIVITY We will visit the following website to view an article on the holocaust. Read the handout with the article from the website We will use the evaluation form and fill it out as a class. We will do a “background check” on the author to get more information.

ACTIVITY Find your partner. Research 2 websites dealing with information on the topic you have chosen for your SS report. For each website, complete an evaluation form. Hand them in when they are completed.