Grateful acknowledgement to the Undergraduate Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for permission to use and modify their template
Tips and Tricks for Evaluating Web Sites
The questions below will help you in evaluate web pages for use as academic sources. Be sure and look at the criteria in multiple categories prior to making a decision regarding the academic quality of a source.
How did you find the page?
How you located the site can give you a start on your evaluation of the site's validity as an academic resource.
What is the site's domain?
Think of this as "decoding" the URL, or Internet address. The origination of the site can provide indications of the site's mission or purpose. The most common domains are:
What is the authority of the page?
Look for information on the author of the site. On the Internet anyone can pose as an authority.
Is the information accurate and objective?
There are no standards or controls on the accuracy of information available via the Internet.
The Internet can be used by anyone as a sounding board for their thoughts and opinions.
Is the page current?
This is both an indicator of the timeliness of the information and whether or not the page is actively maintained.
Does the page function well?
The ease of use of a site and its ability to help you locate information you are looking for are examples of the site's functionality.
Since anyone can post to the Internet, before using any information that you find on the World Wide Web in your research papers, critically evaluate the information. Ask yourself a few questions before using the information found on any web site .
Authority:
Accuracy:
Objectivity:
Currency:
To find out the last time a web page was updated, type javascript:alert(document.lastModified) in the address box.