Transcript Evaluating Web Sites - Maywood Academy High School

Evaluating Web Sites
You've heard the HYPE…"The Internet has EVERYTHING"
But is that the truth? Does it have everything, or just a lot of
things? Is everything useful? Is everything the truth? The
answer to that is definitely "NO" But how do you tell a good
Web site from a flashy bad Web site? Which Web sites will
help you with your research, and which ones will give you a
bunch of bogus "facts"?
Here are some guidelines to help you choose
between useful Web sites and GARBAGE:
The 5 W’s
 Who
 Where
 When
 Why
 What
Who
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Look at the author of your website. Is it by a
famous, well-respected organization like UC
Berkeley, or the US Government? Web sites that
have good authors do not try to hide this fact.
Beware of web sites that don’t let you know who has
written them or what their qualifications are.
Ask & answer these questions:



Who wrote the pages & are they an expert?
Is a biography of the author included?
How can you find out more about the author?
What
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What is the goal of your Web site?
What is the viewpoint? Is it to give people
facts, or is it trying to sell something?
Is the Web site made to inform? Is it made to
persuade?
Many websites are trying to sell you
something. Is the website you’re looking at
made to help people via research or talk
them into buying something.
When

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Look at the date of your website. When was
the website created?
Does the website say when it was last
updated?
Is the information old or new?
Are the links to other sites still working? If
they are not, you can guess that the author is
not working on this web page and the rest of
the information might be out of date.
Where
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Where does the information come from? Most
authors of good websites will tell you where they got
their information.
Beware of authors that don’t tell you where they got
their information.
Did they do their own research?
Do they give you a bibliography of the sources
used?
Is the Web site written by an organization that is
famous for their research?
URL’s as clues to content


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.com = commercial
sites (vary in their
credibility)
.gov = U.S. government
site
.org = organization,
often nonprofit (some
.orgs have strong bias
and agendas)
.edu = college or
university site


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.mil = U.S. military site
.net = networked
serviced provider
~ = personal site (Be a
little suspicious of
personal sites. They
are not endorsed by the
institution on whose
server they reside.)
Why
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Why is this information useful?
Why should I use this information?
Why is this page better than another?
Does the information answer your questions?
Is the information related to your research?
The best information in the world is not useful
if it doesn’t answer the questions that you
have. Maybe you need to look for another
site that discusses what you are looking for.
One last question…
Can you defend
this source to
your teacher?