1. Website Validity: Don’t Believe Everything You Read !

2. Accuracy Free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes Information on this website is supported by at least two other sources. Links are up-to-date and not “dead” links. Links connect to supportive, relative info. Includes citations and bibliographic info

3. Authority Author is listed, not anonymous. Contact information for author If no author is listed by name, authorship is affiliated with a reputable organization, agency, company, or institution. Author’s expertise is listed—training, education, or experience in the field Domain name can relate authorship..

4. Domain Names What is the extension in the domain name? Extensions are intended to show the type of establishment that owns and publishes the domain. Here is a list to look for: COMMON EXTENSIONS.edu Educational organization (most US universities).k12 US school site (not all US schools use this).ac Academic institution (outside of US).sch School site (some schools outside of the US use this).com Company (usually.co in the UK).org Any organization.gov Government agency.net Network.mil Military institution Websites with a tilde ~ signify a personal website, which anyone can create. These require extra investigation.

5. Currency Content of the research is up-to-date i.e. statistics, study date, etc. Publication date of the website is visible and recent.

6. Objectivity Avoid websites with signs of bias:  Lots of advertisements  Harsh tone and language  Overclaims ("Thousands of children are murdered every day in the United States.")  Sweeping statements of excessive significance ("This is the most important idea ever conceived!") Websites with these qualities can be trying to sell a product or idea instead of just focusing on research!

7. References Johnson County Schools. http://jc-schools.net/dynamic/LA/activities/website-validity.ppthttp://jc-schools.net/dynamic/LA/activities/website-validity.ppt Harris, R. (2007). Evaluating Internet Research Sources. http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm Computer Graphic. http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4482578/WWW1- main_Full.jpghttp://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4482578/WWW1- main_Full.jpg Evaluating Content Validity on the Internet. (2008). http://www.sandyn.com/Validity.html http://www.sandyn.com/Validity.html