Main Menu | Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion
Assessing Web Site Credibility
|
Authority
of the Author/Sponsorship: Is
the information developed and published by a credible source? |
|
| 1. | Check
the domain name. Government
Site: .gov, .mil, .us, .ca Educational
Institution: .edu Nonprofit
Organization: .org (not always the case) Commercial
Site: .com, .net (not always the case) |
| 2. | Identify
the purpose for publishing information on the Internet. If
the site is governmental or educational (.gov or .edu), has it clearly
identified the author's identity? If
the site is .org, .com, or .net, is there information on the site that
describes the organization, agency, or company's identity and why the
information is being published? If
the site is .org, .com, or .net, find out if the organization, agency,
or company is being sponsored by other reputable organizations. Is
the purpose of the site to generate revenue in some way? |
| 3. | Check
for tilde ~ in the URL. A
tilde ~ in the URL indicates that this information was published by
an individual and may not reflect the originating domain. |
| 4. | Determine
who authored this information. Is
the author stated with his/her email address? What
qualifications does this author have for publishing this information?
|
|
Testing
the Validity of the Content: Is
the content rich and valid for this research? |
|
| 1. | Determine
if content is fact or opinion. Does
the content cite other resources that were used when creating this information?
Does
the content have limited advertising and does the domain clearly state
the reasons for presenting this information? |
| 2. | Check
how current is the information. Does
it state when this resource was created? Does
it state when this resource was last updated? Do
all the links still work? |
| 3. | Consider
how rich is the information. How
does the resource compare with other similar resources on the Internet? |
