The Internet for Graduate Students
Evaluating Web Resources
Important things to look for:
AUTHORITY - who wrote the page? Do they have any expertise on the subject matter of the website? Is contact information provided for the author?
AUDIENCE - who is web page is written for and what is the purpose of the webpage?
SCHOLARSHIP - How accurate and complete is the information in the page and the links provided? How comprehensive is this site in terms of coverage of the topic?
BIAS - Does the author show any biases or have a personal agenda?
CURRENCY - Is the information current or dated? Does the page have "last updated" information?
STRUCTURE - Do the links take you somewhere? Is the page easy to navigate? Do the images and graphics have a purpose and are they clearly defined? Does the text follow basic rules of grammar?
Exercise
Would you use this website for your research paper? Why or why not? Use the above criteria to make your choice.
For more detail on this topic, check out Elizabeth Kirk's Evaluating Information Found on the Internet which highlights some of the major points to consider when evaluating resources
Last Updated: 09/07/2001
mjp