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How to Evaluate Web Sites

If you found it on the Internet, it must be so. Right? Wrong! Anyone with a minimum of technical know-how can create a web page and put it on the Internet. Without knowing how to evaluate web sites, there is no assurance that the information you find is accurate because the World Wide Web lacks the quality control that most printed resources in libraries are subjected to before they can be published. For example, authors are generally experts in their fields and their manuscripts are reviewed by editors and subsequently revised before final approval for publication. Even after publication, books are reviewed by experts who judge the accuracy of the information presented.

One way to be reasonably sure that you are locating accurate information online is to useCwhenever possibleConline databases that our library subscribes to such as encyclopedias (Grolier Online, Britannica Online, etc.) and newspaper and periodical databases (MasterFILE Select, etc.). These are information-rich online resources that were originally published in printed format. You will find these databases on the NYMA Library homepage.

The following web sites will help you evaluate information that you find on the World Wide Web. You can also ask for individual help from your teachers or the librarian.

5 W's for Evaluating Web Sites
http://kathyschrock.net/abceval/5ws.htm
The who, what, when, where and why of web site evaluation from librarian-educator Kathy Schrock.

Checklist to Evaluating Web Sites
http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/webcheck.html
Easy-to-use checklist format prepared by the University Libraries, University of Maryland to help you evaluate web sites.

Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
Learn how to evaluate web pages using this tutorial produced by the Teaching Library, University of California at Berkeley.

Evaluating Web Sites: What Makes a Web Site Good?
http://www.multcolib.org/homework/webeval.html
Excellent guidelines by Sara Ryan, Multnomah County Library (Portland, Oregon) School Corps Librarian.

Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webcrit.html
Guidelines from the Cornell University Library taken from an article by Jim Kapoun in C&RL News (July/August 1998).