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PACE Resources:
Quick Tips for Internet Evaluation
Quick Tips for Evaluating Internet Resources

Use the criteria provided here to help you evaluate Internet sites for use as academic resources.
For more complete evaluation criteria see:
Evaluating Internet Resources http://www.millikin.edu/staley/subject/neteval.asp

  • How did you find this web site?

    •       -Did a professor or another reliable source recommend it?
          -Was it cited in a scholarly or credible source?
          -Was it a link from a reputable web site?

  • Identify the web site’s domain?

    •       -What kind of web site is it? .edu .com .gov .org .net
          -What do these mean?

  • What degree of authority does the web site’s author have?

    •       -Who is the author? What are his/her credentials?
          -Is the author or source of the web site an expert in his/her field?
          -Is there a mailing address and/or phone number?
          -Look for author’s name at the top or bottom of the page or a section titled
           “About Us” or something similar.

  • Is the web site accurate and objective?

    •       -How accurate is the information?
          -How does this information compare to print sources you have read?
          -Are sources of factual information or statistics cited?
          -Is the information objective, unbiased, and fair?
          -Does the page contain advertising? If so, does it impact the content?
          -Compare the information on this page to reliable print sources you have
           already read about the topic.

  • Is the web site current?
    •       -Is the information timely and up to date?
          -When was the page last updated?
          -Are links current and functional?
          -Look for a date at the top or bottom of the page.

  • Is the web site functional?
    •       -Is the web site well organized?
          -Is there a web site map or index?
          -Is the web site searchable? Does it have its own search engine?
          -Is it easy to navigate the site, i.e. return to home page, etc.?
          -Look for navigation bars, usually located on the top of the page or on one of the sides.

  • Become an Internet detective!
    •       -To locate the origin of any web site, you can strip back and delete after any / in a
           site’s URL.
          -For example, the source of the page titled Why We Shouldn't Legalize Assisting
           Suicide at: http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/asisuid1.html can be discovered by
           deleting everything after the first slash (/).
          You will then arrive at the page’s sources: http://www.nrlc.org

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