Evaluating web sites

Anyone can publish anything on the internet - how can you tell if a site you find is any good?

Evaluate it against the following criteria:

• Determine the scope and extent of coverage?
• What motivation has the author has for placing this information on the Internet? and how accurate is it likely to be?
• Who wrote and has authorized the page? Look for a header or footer.
• Is the information current?
• Usability, is it the site easy to use?
• Is the site easy to search?

Scope - Extent of Coverage

Who is the audience?
What topics are covered?
What is the level of detail provided about the subject.
Is the information in the resource limited to certain time periods?

Accurate

Is the information in the resource accurate?
Are there political, ideological, or other biases?
Are the sources for any factual information clearly listed so that they can be verified?

Authority

Is the author qualified?
Can the author be contacted for clarification or be informed of new information?
Is the site sponsored? If so, by whom?
Check the URL (e.g. http://www.fbi.gov) or domain e.g. .edu, .com, .ac.uk, .org, .net

Currency

Is the resource dated?
If it is updated, how frequently? When was the last update?
Are dates of update stated?

Usability

Is the resource convenient, and easy to use?
Are any necessary special commands clear?
Is help information available?

Searching

How effectively can information be retrieved from the resource?
Is a useful search engine provided?
What operators and ranking features are available?
Is use of the search engine interface intuitive?

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