Evaluating Web Sites

The following sites provide more information about evaluating Web sites.

• Critical Evaluation Information
  • The Critical Evaluation Information site is presented by Kathy Schrock. This site is designed to help with the process of evaluating web sites by provided a series of evaluation surveys.

• Critically Analyzing Information Sources
  • "You can begin evaluating a physical information source (a book or an article for instance) even before you have the physical item in hand. Appraise a source by first examining the bibliographic citation. The bibliographic citation is the written description of a book, journal article, essay, or some other published material that appears in a catalog or index. Bibliographic citations characteristically have three main components: author, title, and publication information. These components can help you determine the usefulness of this source for your paper. (In the same way, you can appraise a Web site by examining the home page carefully.)"

• Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Consider
  • The Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Consider web site is part of Cornell University Library's home page. This site provides tips for evaluating online resources based on context, criteria, and reviews and rankings.

• Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
  • "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources" is presented and maintained by Susan E. Beck. This site provides examples, the criteria that should be used to evaluate web sources, and suggestions for Internet assignments.

• Using Primary Sources on the Web
  • "Students and researchers now have greater access to primary source materials for historical research than ever before. The traditional use of sources available in print and microfilm continues to be the foundation for research, but in some cases documents, letters, maps, photographs of ancient artifacts and other primary material are available online in different formats from free websites or subscription services on the internet. Users of primary sources have always needed to examine their sources critically, but now with the proliferation of electronic resources from a wide variety of web site producers, evaluation is more important than ever before. Users of web resources must now consider the authenticity of documents, what person or organization is the internet provider, and whether the electronic version serves their needs. This brief guide is designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate the internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online."