Evaluating Websites

Finding information that fits your research questions is important. What's one strategy you can use to make sure a website is relevant to your topic?

• Use control + F to do a quick keyword search.
• Ask a friend next to you if the site is a good one.
• Have your older sister conduct an internet search for you.
• Google the key works

Some information is not intended for students. How can you decide if a website has material that is appropriate for you?

• Google has everything! Just start there.
• Everything online is true. It doesn't matter if it's appropriate or not.
• Ask yourself, "Is the author's language and vocabulary intended for me or for someone older/younger than me?"
• If the page is blocked, that's a sure sign the website has inappropriate content.

The details about a website help us to decide if it's worth spending time there.  What is one thing to look for when looking for a website's "user-friendliness"?

• copyright date
• pretty pictures
• lots of text
• a site map, which is like a table of contents

Finding information that is up-to-date is also important.  What can you look for on a website to let you know how current the information is?

• title of the website
• date last updated
• author of the website
• works cited

Finding a website for research that has valid, reliable information can be hard.  How do you know the author of a website has the authority to put the facts out on the web?

• They have a high school education.
• They have some basic experience or training in the subject they're writing about.
• They have a camera that takes great photos of their topic  that are posted on the website.
• Visuals, primary sources, and a glossary can be found on the website.

A web URL that ends with "gov" means that the website is associated with what?

• a company
• a school
• a government agency
• a charitable organziation

Imagine your are researching the pros and cons of oxygen in drinking water. During you research you come across a claim that oxygen can be dangerous in water. However, certain aspects of the site make you question the accuracy. As you evaluate the website which of the following would not raise a red flag?

• A statistic provided by the American Dental Association regarding oxygen in water
• The fact that the site is sponsored by the Assocoation to Keep Our Water Oxygen-Free 
• Several grammatical and spelling errors
• The fact that the cite was updated in 2001

You are researching space exploration and you find a website that details all of the Apollo space missions. In evaluation the legitimacy of the site, you examine where links go from the site. Which type of links would be most add to the sites credibility?

• Links out the an astronaut's Instragram page
• Links out to the ice skater, Apollo Ono's personal websites
• Links out to the movie Apollo 13
• Links out to www.NASA.gov

You can tell that a website is probably associated with a college or university if the URL ends with...

• .com
• .gov
• .edu
• .org

Which one of the below items should NOT be something you are most concerned about when evaluating a website?

• length of information
• date of the last update
• accuracy of information
• purpose of the website