Transcript Evaluating Websites

Evaluating Websites
Is that site
good enough to cite?
How do YOU decide if a
website contains quality
information?
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell!
Many websites are not worthy of your time
and don’t belong in your works cited lists!
It is your job as a researcher to evaluate
all your sources for quality.
The CRAAP test
CURRENCY (How current the information is)
RELEVANCE (How related it is to your needs)
AUTHORITY (The author’s expertise)
ACCURACY (How correct the information is)
PURPOSE (The reason the information exists)
CURRENCY
• When was the information published?
• When was the web page last updated?
• Has the author of the page stopped
maintaining it (Are there broken links)?
• Does your topic require current
information, or are older sources okay?
Be suspicious of undated material!
RELEVANCE
• Does the information relate to your topic
or your research question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at your reading level?
AUTHORITY
• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• What are his or her credentials? (Education/
Experience/Affiliation)
• Does the author’s experience really qualify him
or her as an expert?
• Is the author’s experience related to the subject
he or she is writing about?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher
or e-mail address for the author?
• Is this a personal page?
Find out who the author is!
Clues often appear on the top or bottom
of a page, or in menu bars and frames.
Words and phrases to look for:
• About us, Who Am I, FAQs, For More,
Company Information, Profiles, Our Staff,
E-mail the author
• If you have no information other than an
e-mail link, write a polite e-mail asking for
more information.
ACCURACY
• Can facts, statistics, or other information be
verified through other sources?
• Did the author list his or her sources?
• Based on your knowledge, does the information
seem accurate?
• Is the information second hand? Has it been
altered?
• Do there appear to be errors on the page
(spelling, grammar, facts)?
PURPOSE
• What is the purpose of the information? To inform,
teach, sell, entertain, or persuade?
• Does the source present a particular view or bias?
• Is the page affiliated with an organization that has
a particular political or social agenda?
• Is the page selling a product?
• Was the information found in a paid advertisement
or sponsored result from a search engine?
Tips & Tricks
Examine the URL
Web address
subdirectory
web page name
http://www.cnn.com/social-media/opinion.html
www.cnn.com
social media
opinion.html files
research.html
apps.html
root folder (top directory)
subdirectory
Truncate the URL
Delete characters in the URL up to the domain
name to see if the main page offers more
information about who is responsible for publishing
the page you are interested in.
Go from:
http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages/chaucer/smith.htm
http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages/chaucer
http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages
http://www.statecollege.edu/history
http://www.statecollege.edu
Examine the domain
World Wide Web
(A system of networked
servers)
Suffix
(Indicates top level domain)
http://www.cnn.com/
Hypertext
Transfer Protocol
(How messages are
formatted/transmitted
to a server)
site domain name
(Domain names identify web pages.
Each page has a unique
IP address, or network ID.
Ex: 1.160.10.240)
Common suffixes
.com
Commercial site
Vary in quality
.gov
U.S. government site
Bias?
.org
Organization, often non-profit
May be biased
.edu
School/university
What level? Student or scholar?
.ac
School/university (outside U.S)
.mil
U.S. military site
.net
Network service provider
.biz
Business
~ or #
Personal site
Internet administrative site
Beware: people can easily purchase domains
that do not reflect their actual purpose.
Time to Practice!
Ask.com
http://www.ask.com
Infoplease
http://www.infoplease.com