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Research Toolkit: Quickly evaluate a website

Tools, techniques, and resources to help you find the information you need.

Quickly Evaluate a Website

 Related Guides: Quickly Evaluate a Book, Quickly Evaluate an Article

 

What is the Web?

Key Facts:

  • The World Wide Web (aka "The Web") is the part of the Internet that contains websites. 
  • Websites store, link, and deliver webpages and can range in size from one page to thousands of pages. 
  • Only a tiny fraction of the web is available through an internet browser like Google. It is estimated that over 90% of the internet is made up of the "deep web", which includes research databases and library catalogs.

Who adds content to the Web?

  • Anyone with an Internet connection can create a website or post content on social media. 
  • No one edits or verifies general content on the Web.  
  • Most published content like books and periodicals are protected by copyright laws. Only the authors and/or publishers can provide permission to post the content online. Many people think that all information is available online for free, but this just isn't true.  

Steps to Evaluating a Website 

  1. Check the URL and domain extensions 
  2. Perform the ABCD evaluation 
  3. After the ABCD evaluation is performed, if the website is found to be credible, decide if the website is relevant to your topic and if you should use it. 

The ABCD of Web Evaluation: What to look for 

  • Authority - Who is the author? What are the author's credentials?  Does the author have expertise in the area? Is the author associated with a reputable organization?
  • Bias - Is the information balanced? Is it more opinion than fact? Is the page a presentation of facts or designed to sway opinion? Is a product, service, donate button, or idea being sold?
  • Currency - When was the page last updated? Are any links dead? Is the information consistent with your knowledge in the subject?
  • Documentation - Is information documented with references? Are the facts given supported with evidence? If statistics are provided, what is the source? Is the page free of spelling mistakes or other obvious mistakes? 
  What should I look for Why should I evaluate? How can I tell?
Authority
  • Who is the author?
  • What are the author’s credentials?
  • Does the author have expertise in the subject?
  • Is the author associated with a reputable organization?
  • Is contact information provided?
  • Websites are created for different reasons: advocacy, commercial, informational, marketing, personal.
  • There are no web standards for who can publish information on a subject.
  • If you can’t determine the author, how do you know.the author is a whiz on the subject?
  • Check the top and bottom of the web page for clues.
  • Look at the domain endings, is the site: .com? .edu? .gov? .mil? .net? .org?
  • Is this page linked to a main website for the author or organization?
  • Look for a page explaining the mission or philosophy of the author or organization.
  • Ask a Reference Librarian about the author/organization
Bias
  • Is the information balanced?
  • Is it more opinion than fact?
  • Is the page a presentation of facts or designed to sway opinion?
  • Is a product, service, or idea being sold?
  • Goals and objectives of the author may not be clearly stated.
  • The web may serve as a place to make someone’s opinion public.
  • Read through and scan the page to determine the viewpoint.
  • Is there a page explaining who are the author is and his or her mission or philosophy?
  • Ask a Reference Librarian if the information is objective.
Currency
  • When was the page last updated?
  • Are there any broken/dead links?
  • Is the information consistent with your knowledge of the subject?
  • Pages with broken/dead links may not be regularly updated.
  • It is important to have some knowledge of the subject to know if the content is out-of-date.
  • Your research may require the most up-to-date information.
  • Check to see if the author attributes information/facts to a particular year.
  • Look at the bottom of the page to see if the author has included a date.
  • The copyright year will tell you when the site license was last updated.
  • Ask a Reference Librarian to verify when it was last updated.
Documentation
  • Is information documented with references?
  • Are facts supported with evidence?
  • If statistics are provided, what is the source?
  • Is the page free of spelling mistakes or other obvious mistakes?
  • Anyone can publish anything on the web.
  • Unlike traditional print resources, web resources rarely have editors or fact-checkers.
  • There are no web standards to ensure accuracy.
  • Verify that the facts, references, or statistics have an identified source.
  • Do you see any errors or misspellings?
  • Ask a Reference Librarian if the information you have found can be obtained from a more reliable source.

From Oklahoma City Community College Library - PDF version for printing.

Watch - Becoming a Fact Checker - Skills to Stop Misinformation - The SIFT Method

Watch the three videos to build your fact-checking skills using the SIFT Method

Online Verification Skills — Video 2: Investigate the Source

Online Verification Skills — Video 4: Look for Trusted Work

Online Verification Skills — Video 3: Find the Original Source

 

Note: all videos include closed captioning.

Review - Knowledge Check

 

 

Practice - Interactive Tutorial

 

Practice your fact-checking skills with the interactive web evaluation tutorial.

 

Want to learn more?