When you do a search on the Internet, you get all kinds of results. Some of the sites may be official sites, recognized reference sites, full-text documents, etc. Others may be personal pages, commercials, silly sites, or even hoaxes. You need to be able to evaluate the information you get from the Internet.

Remember : Anyone can publish a website on the Internet and there really isn't anyone to monitor that information being published it is accurate or even true. So how do you evaluate a website?
 

Check the Source

Look at the URL of the website.

What is the domain name? The ending of the domain name is a clue to what kind of site it is:

    .com for business and commercial websites (www.amazon.com)
    .edu for educational websites for colleges or universities (www.harvard.edu)
    .gov for governmental websites (www.nasa.gov)
    .mil for U.S. military websites (www.navy.mil)
    .net for network access provider websites (www.netscape.net)
    .org for non-profit organizational websites (www.nassaulibrary.org)

In general, you can generally rely on websites with .edu, .gov, or .mil extensions. Websites with .net, .org and .com extensions may not be as reliable and need further evaluation.
 

• Check to see who created and posted the website.


The author's name and credentials should be clearly stated on the website. Are the credentials relevant to the information provided on the website? Or is the website someone's personal page? Or is the website really a commercial to sell something?

For example, http://www.lordoftherings.net/ is the official website for the movie, "The Lord of the Rings" created by New Line Cinema. So, you can probably rely on the information provided at this site regarding the movie production, actors, etc. On the other hand, http://www.coldal.org.uk/quotes.htm links to a website created by a fan of "The Lord of the Rings." The information may be accurate, but you can't be sure. Then there is http://www.lordoftherings-toys.com/. This is the website for a company that sells Lord of the Rings collectibles. Depending on your interest, you may select one website versus another.
 

• Check to see when the website was published.


If the website was published a while ago and is no longer current, factual or statistical information on the website may be inaccurate or misleading.
 

• Check to see when the website was last updated.


When was the page updated last? Look at the homepage of the website to see when the site was last updated.
Check individual pages to see if they have been updated at different times.

For example, Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School has a web page at http://home.pb.net/~vsmem/. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since 1998. So it's not very useful to someone interested in the school today.  In Spring 2002, Valley Stream Central High School District launched a new website at http://www.vschsd.org, but the old web page for Memorial is still on the Internet to mislead unsuspecting Internet users.
 

• Look for a Mail-to link for questions, comments, etc.

 
• Look for the name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the page owner. If the page owner does not identify himself, what credentials or other information are provided to determine the reliability or authority of the website?


For example, the Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://www.lii.org/) indicates:

Copyright © 2001-2002, Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org. All rights reserved.
Maintained on the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE
Funded by the Library of California through the Library of California Board.
Additional grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
through the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the California State Librarian.

The website publishing information indicates that this is probably an authoritative site.
 

Be a critical Internet user.

Don't accept everything that you read just because you find it on the Internet. Some websites are deliberate frauds and hoaxes. An example of a website that is a hoax is the "Mankato, Minnesota Home Page" (http://lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html). Without reading the Disclaimer at the very bottom of the home page, the unsuspecting Internet surfer might not realize that this home page is a fake.

Check for bias and objectivity on the website. Is the website created someone who has something to gain or sell? Usually websites published by government or non-profit agencies tend to be more objective than those sponsored by special interest groups or commercial organizations.

For example, if you were looking for information on an automobile, the information you find on the auto manufacturer's website will be very complimentary about the automobile. You would probably find nice color photographs of the car, with positive comments from dealers or customers, etc. However, if you went to a consumer website and searched for information about the same automobile, you might find information about consumer complaints, recalls, safety reports, etc. So you must be prepared to consider the author of the website when you evaluate the information you find.
 

• Review the website for accuracy.


Does the information you find on the website seem accurate? There are fifty states in the United States, so if a website says there are fifty-one, try another website!!!

Does it match information you have found in other sources? After searching several websites on a topic, you will probably find that there is a lot of repetition of information. If five websites indicate that Joe Torre is the manager of New York Yankees, but a sixth website indicates he is the manager of the New York Mets, I would avoid using any information from that website.
 

• Review the website for currency.


A website might indicate the last date it was updated, but you really don't know what was updated. So you may need to evaluate the content of the website to determine its currency.

For example, many websites have needed to be updated due to the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11. So if you are looking at a website of businesses in NYC and companies that were in the WTC are still listed, the website is not up-to-date.
 

• Consider the quality and ease of use of the website.


Many websites are professionally designed with sound, animation, etc. Unfortunately, all the glitz on some websites may slow down the speed in which you can use the website, so you might want to use another website which is easier and faster, but not as pretty. In some cases, you need to download additional programs to get the plug-ins to work, and this can be nuisance.

Some websites that are sponsored by companies have advertisements throughout the website. Animated banners run across the top ; pop-up windows appear whenever you roll your mouse over an image. All this can be distracting and interfere with your searching of the website.

Check the links on the website. If there are too many broken links, the website may not be up-to-date or just a waste of your time.
 

For further information on evaluating websites, check out "Evaluating Web Resources" (http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm) from the Wolfgram Memorial Library or "Evaluating Internet Resources" (http://library.albany.edu/internet/evaluate.html) prepared by the University of Albany Libraries. The University of California at Berkeley Library offers a good tutorial on evaluating web pages, "Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask & Strategies for Getting the Answers" (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalQuestions.html).
 
 
 
 

© Henry Waldinger Memorial Library, 2002 - Updated : July 27, 2002.