Web Evaluation Criteria
Web sites have few qualitative controls, since anyone with the right equipment can publish on the Internet. Evaluating web sites requires some special criteria because of their visual and graphic nature, but the same general evaluation criteria used for the content of print resources can also be applied to the content of web sites.
Authorship:
- It is often difficult to determine the authorship of Web sources. Does the site provide the author's name, position, institutional affiliation, address, email address?
- Are the author's credentials apparent on the site?
- Has the site been recommended by people with credentials, or experts in the subject?
- Are sources provided that document where the information on the site was obtained?
Audience:
- For whom is the site intended? Students? Experts in the field? Members within an industry or trade? The general public? Members of a political or partisan organization?
- Is the site designed primarily to sell products or services to customers?
Currency:
- When was the page created or first posted on the Web?
- What is the "last updated" date?
- Is there a date of copyright?
- Are the links current? Or are some of them dead?
- Does the document refer to clearly dated information (example: "Based on 1990 US Census data")?
Publishing Body:
- To what domain does the site belong? Is this information important for your assessment of the site?
- Is the name of the individual or organization responsible for the overall site provided? Is there a link to information about a mission or purpose?
- Does the document reside on the Web server of an organization that has a political or philosophical agenda?
- Is the site reliable? Will it be there tomorrow?
- Are editors or reviewers monitoring the accuracy of the information being published?
- Are the facts documented? Are quotes accurate?
- Are there misspellings or errors? Errors show a lack of quality control and can actually produce wrong information.
- Is the content available in both print and on the web? If so, is the coverage the same?
- What is required to view the content? Registration? Money? Personal information?
- Does the site bombard users with popup ads?
Objectivity, Point of View, or Bias:
- The Web often functions as a "virtual soapbox."
- Is the page selling? Promoting? Ranting? Sponsoring?
- Is the content clearly separated from advertising and opinions?
- Are links to other viewpoints provided? Balanced?
- Are opinions clearly labeled?
Additional Resources for Evaluating Web Resources:
- Evaluating Print and Electronic Sources (University of Washington--Seattle Libraries, covering both print and web resources, part of a larger tutorial on library resources for research)
- Evaluating Sources (University of Washington--Bothell campus library, covering evaluation of all sources, not just web resources)
- Checklist for Evaluating Web Sites (O'Kelly Library, Winston-Salem State University)
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources (Reference & Research Services Department, New Mexico State University, with entertaining examples of evaluation criteria)
- Evaluating Information Found on the Internet - from the Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
- Widener University's Wolfgram Memorial Library has evaluation checklists tailored to the various purposes of web pages:
- Web wisdom: how to evaluate and create information quality on the Web (1999) (Book in the UW-Bothell and UW-Tacoma libraries)
Citing Web Resources:
