Lydia Jackson

 

Guidelines

Page history last edited by erussel@... 4 mos ago

 

Guidelines for Evaluating Websites

 

  1. Guidelines for Evaluating Websites
    1. "Author"ity
    2. Accuracy
    3. Objectivity
    4. Currency
    5. Coverage and Comparability
    6. Maintenance and Design

 

"Author"ity

 

  • Who is the Author? A person, group, agency, organization?
  • Who created the site? 
  • What are their professional credentials? Are they verifiable?
  • Who or what is the agency that sponsors or publishes the site?  Are they reliable?

  • What is the domain name of the site?

    • .com - commercial sites designed for selling or entertainment, and may include many personal sites.(Ex: www.americaonline.com)
    • .edu - educational, institutional/organizational or college student sites, primarily provide good information.(Ex: www.siue.edu)
    • .gov - sites are government entities, usually reliable.(Ex: www.usa.gov)
    • .mil - sites are a military body (Ex: www.nic.mil)
    • .net - sites are Internet service providers (ISP) (Ex: www.isp.net)
    • .org - organizational sites are for profit and may be biased usaully, but may provide good information.(Ex: www.wikipedia.org)

       

Accuracy

 

  • Is the material factual, to the best of your knowledge?
  • Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched or is it unsupported by evidence?
  • Are citations provided so that assertations and "facts" that are presented can be verified?
  • Does a reputable web site rating such as libraries Index to the Internet, Info MNE, Britannica online list the site?

 

Objectivity

 

  • Is the purpose of the page to inform, entertain, or persuade?What indicates this?
  • Is the site designed to present factual information in an unbiased manner or do the creators of the site have a particular bias that is likely to color the information and interpretations?
  • What type of sites link to the site? This can be verified by copying the URL for the page or site and pasting the URL in a search engine such as Google (Ex: www.siue.edu/lovejoylibrary).
  • Which of the following indicators of objectivity does the site contain? 

 

Indicators of Scholarship

Indicators of Propaganda

Describes limits of research or data.

Excessive claims of certainty, i.e. one "right" way of thinking.

Presents accurate description of alternate viewpoints.

Relies on personal attacks and ridicule.

Encourages debate, discussion, and criticism.

Emotional appeals. Use of inflammatory language.

Looks for counter-examples.

Appeals to popular prejudices.

Admits own ignorance.

Transforms words and statistics to suit purpose.

 

Currency

 

  • Is the web site dated?  Is this the date of creation or the date the material was last updated?  When was the page last updated? 
  • Are the links the page provides still current?

 

Coverage and Comparability

 

  • What topics does the page cover? 
  • How in-depth is the coverage of the topics?  Is the site intended to be comprehensive or selective?
  • How does the site compare with other related sites or other related print resources?

 

Maintenance and Design

 

  • Do all the links work?
  • Are there typographical, grammatical or coding errors?
  • Do you have trouble connecting to the site or a specific page?
  • Is the site well organized?
  • Is the site easy to navigate?
  • Is there a site index?

     

     

 

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