Website Evaluation or 

"Should I use this site?"

Brooke Carey AhrensInstructional Technology Coordinator

Why do we need to evaluate?

• WWW is open to everyone. It has no monitors. 

• Anyone is allowed to post anything and  NO ONE is double-checking those facts

Some of the information you encounter might not be accurate or even true!

As a researcher, it is YOUR job to check!

Why do we need to evaluate?

First: Check out this website:http://whitehouse.com

What do you think you will find?

What did you find?

Evaluation is the key!

• Depending on what you are looking for, a website may OR may not fit your needs

• You have to look carefully at the website, the author, the information and more to see if the information is accurate and reliable!

Different sites for different reasons

Websites are published for different purposes. Does your site fit your needs?

• Retail- Sites for shopping• Recreational- Sites for entertainment• Informational- Sites to provide

information• Scholarly: Sites for research or

educational purposes• Propaganda- Sites presenting only 1

side of an idea or an opinion.

Credibility- Who’s Writing This?

To determine if the site's author is credible. Look for the following:• Can you locate the author’s name?• Does the author provide contact

information?• What are the author’s credentials?

What makes them qualified to write on this topic?

Who is writing this?

Let’s see if we can determine who the author is, if we can contact them, if they qualified to provide information….

Mark Twain- American Author and Humorist

What is author's purpose?

Even if you can contact the author and they are qualified, you still need to consider:

• Is the author biased?• What are their political beliefs ? • Are they trying to sell something?

What's the URL?

The url of a site, can provide more information about a site.

• .gov - a US government site• .edu-  a college or university site• .org-  a non-profit site (really?)• .com- a for profit site• ~ in the address= check the authorship

More urls are being used and created (.tv, .net). If you aren't sure, do some research! 

Accuracy

• Does the site have spelling errors, grammatical errors or broken links? It shouldn’t! 

• Have you seen the information elsewhere? If not, that might be an issue

What about this website?

Tree Octopus• What is the purpose of this site?• Does the site present a bias?• Can we verify the information

elsewhere?• Do we see spelling errors/broken

links/grammar errors?

Evaluate the date

Dates on websites are important! 

• When was the website was last updated?

Some topics (like technology) require frequent updating.

• When the article was written?If the information is old, things may have changed since the site was published

What about this website?

How to care for your floppy discs• Is it current? • Is it relevant? • Would it support your

research?

You need to try it now…

Visit each of these sites and evaluate their use for research!

www.sacagawea.com

Sacajawea- Her Story, Her People

What did you discover???

• Was the 1st site a site you would use?

• Why or why not?

• What about the 2nd site? • What did you find?