Eleanor DeWolfe Ludcke Library

• Teachers and students may use the following criteria to select web sites for their academic work.
  
• Faculty developing course syllabi may link to Faculty Checklist for Evaluating Information for more details.

• What is the purpose of the site or page? Look for tips in graphics and text. Web pages may be...

  commercial informative educational entertaining

  persuasive personal institutional a hoax (see below)

  
  
• What does the URL (Web address) say about the producer of the web site, and its purpose? Look at the final syllable in the domain name. The first three sites below are all "White House" sites. Which is the official White House site? How can you tell? Note that all three sites are easily accessible in a web search for "White House".
  

  .gov	Government agency: www.whitehouse.gov
  .net	Internet Service Provider: www.whitehouse.net
  .com	Commercial site(Note: www.whitehouse.com is a pornographic site. Go there at your own risk.)
  .edu	Higher education - http://www.lesley.edu/. Other educational sites may appear with different domain names: www.whitehouse.gov/kids
  .mil	Military site- www.navy.mil/
  ~	("tilde") Personal site - www.ddc.com/~kjohnson/birdcare.htm
  .org	Organization; may be charitable, religious, or a lobbying group - http://www.rtda.org/news.html.

  
  
• New domain names will appear soon. Read about .info and .biz, among others at http://www.nic-goto.net/soon.html.
  
  
• Other syllables in the domain name indicate country of origin: http://www.education.gov.il/. Read about International Domain Names.

• Who is the author?
• What are her credentials?
• Does she have sufficient authority to speak on the subject?
• Is there any way to reach her?
• Is there an organizational or corporate sponsor?
• Is this page authentic, or is it a hoax?
• Is this a peer-reviewed or scholarly article?

• Does the page reflect a bias?
• Is the bias explicit or hidden?
• Is there advertising on the page?
• Does the identity of the author or sponsor suggest a bias?
• How does the bias impact the usability of the information?

APPROPRIATENESS - Women and Aids

• Is the content appropriate for your classroom or your assignment?
• Is the reading level appropriate for your students?
• Is the content appropriate for the age or developmental level of your students?
• Is the content accurate, complete, well-written?

CURRENCY - CNN

• Is the information on the page up-to-date?
• Can you tell when the page was last updated?
• Are there dead links?
• Is there a difference between the date the information was created and the date the page was last updated?

• Are the authors up-front about their purpose and content?
• Is there a way to contact the authors?
• Do the authors give credit for information used?
• Is there a reference list?

CLARITY - A New Beginning for Life

• Is the information clearly presented?
• Is the text neat, legible and formatted for easy reading?
• If there are graphics, do they add to the content or distract?
• If there are advertisements, do they interfere with your ability to use the page?
• Are the pages well organized?
• Are there mistakes in spelling or word usage?

• Can you get in?
• Does the site load quickly?
• Can you move around the site easily?
• Is the site or page still there next time?
• Is there a text-only alternative for the visually-impaired?

HOAXES

Read All About It!

Alexander, Janet E. & Tate, Marsha E. (1997, March 20). Evaluating Web Resources. Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University. Retrieved September 12, 2000, from the World Wide Web: : http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm.

Beck, Susan E. (1997, July 7). The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, or Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. Institute for Technology-Assisted Learning, New Mexico State University. Retrieved September 12, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html.

Crepin-Leblond, O.M.J. (n.d.). International Domain Names. Retrieved July 6, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/internet/domain.html.

NIC Domain Name Registrations: Coming Soon. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nic-goto.net/soon.html.

Piper, Paul S. (2000, September). Better read that again: Web hoaxes and misinformation. Searcher, 8 (8). Retrieved July 9, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep00/piper.htm.

Schrock, Kathleen. (1997). Evaluating Internet Web Sites: An Educator's Guide. Manhattan, KS: The MASTER Teacher, Inc. Announcement retrieved September 12, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/books2.html#evaluating.

Tilman, Hope N. (2000, May 30). Evaluating Quality on the Net. Retrieved September 12, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.html.