Website Evaluation

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We realize that many students are using the web to do a major portion of their research in today’s world. Although we will continue to suggest that you use one of our online databases for higher quality results, it’s also important to recognize that there can be good information available on the internet.

We’ve put together a little guide to help you when you’re doing searching online that will help you evaluate the websites that you find.

• Remember to start by using a good search engine such as Google (http://www.google.com) when searching for Internet sites.



• Take the time to come up with good keywords (words that describe your topic) before you start searching. If you have words that are too general you’ll often get over 1 million results – and most of us do not go past the first two pages of results! Better search terms mean better results.



• Sites that end in .edu, .gov, or .org are usually better than those that end in .com. The main reason for this is that anyone can get a .com address (even me and you) while the ones we suggest have to prove they are an educational institution, a government, or a non-profit organization. One note: A non-profit organization will have biased information (a specific point of view). You wouldn’t want to rely on the American Cancer Society for information in a debate where you have to prove tobacco smoking doesn’t cause cancer. Just keep the bias in mind.



• Once you’ve found a site ask yourselves a series of questions to find out whether you can trust the information you have found or not.
  
  
  • Who is the author or sponsor?
  • Are the authors experts and well-known in this field?
  • Is the information error-free?
  • Who’s in charge of making sure the information is true?
  • Is the information biased?
  • Are there more ads than content?
  • When was the site last updated?
  • Are the links current or broken?
  • How in-depth is the coverage of the topic?
  • Is the information fake, a joke, or a hoax (trust me that these are out there – just check out http://www.malepregnancy.com)
  Information adapted from: Beck, Susan. "Evaluation Criteria." The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. 1997. http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html



• If you’re still not sure if the site is a good source of information, use our Website Evaluation Form or ask a librarian for help.



• Whenever you decide to use a website for an information source make sure to keep track of the website address and the date you found the page. These are important pieces of information that you will need for your works cited or bibliography.



• Remember that the web is an amazing place but is filled with equal parts good and bad information. Try using a library tool like the databases instead (all accessible from home) to make the process easier and do better research.

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