1. Evaluating Websites
Last updated:
9/2014

2. Objectives By the end of today you will know: Why websites should
be evaluated
How to evaluate
websites

3. Why Evaluate? All websites are not created equally
Example: Martin Luther King, Jr.

4. Google results

5. http://www.martinlutherking.org Would you use this site?

6. What do you think about this site?

7. Sample flyer

8. Who’s the author of the site?8 8

9. What do you think of the author?

10. So, how will you know if a website is reliable?

11. How to Evaluate? Start your research using reliable sources
Cross reference - find the
same information in
another source

12. How to Evaluate? Check Domain names
Example, .com, .edu
.gov = governmental agency (very reliable!)
Example: hawaii.gov
Information at .gov sites needs to be approved before posting.

13. Link check Find out who is linking to the site Example,

14. Link check results: Used as a Web Credibility Exercise

15. (Who’s Higa? Teacher? Student? Expert in the field?)
URL clues
Check the URL or the web address:
Does is have a tilde “~”?
Indicates a personal website
Ex.
(Who’s Higa? Teacher? Student? Expert in the field?)

16. Currency Consider your topic…
Do you need current, or up-to-date information?
Would “old” information be okay?

17. Authority: Sources listed?
Does the author/site include a list of sources used?
Where did they get their information from?
Can you tell if the sources are credible or not?

18. Author’s purpose? To share facts versus opinion?
Fact = something that is true
Opinion = what someone thinks
Bias = a preference for a particular belief or idea over other ideas and beliefs

19. Wikipedia: What do you think?

20. Wikipedia: Good & Bad

21. Wikipedia: The Bad Side
E.g., A 2007 news article:
• 1,662 Wikipedia edits made from Univ. of Hawaii computers
• 776 edits made from Dept. of Ed. computers

22. Wikipedia: The Bad Side
Examples:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice died in a Texas bathroom in 2004
Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie has killed more than 5 million wolves
(anyone can post information)

23. Wikipedia: The Good Side
You might find great information under External links

24. Wikipedia Rule of thumb:
Might be a good place to start (if it has a list of references)
Bad place to end your research.

25. Let’s Review How can you evaluate a website?
Check domain names (.gov is good!)
Link check – are others linking to the site and if yes, who?
Currency
Author’s background and purpose
(ex. fact versus opinion)

26. Thank you for your attention, now you try it!