Anyone can make a webpage..........................

The World Wide Web contains high quality and poor quality, accurate and inaccurate, reliable and unreliable information.  You must carefully choose the information you use when researching on the web.  When you are looking for information on the Web that is true and up-to-date, you have to evaluate the site to make sure that you can trust the information on it.

The following guidelines will help you to determine which sites have quality information:

          I.  Why is it important to evaluate information found on the internet?

Many sites get to the top of a result list because they pay to be there, not necessarily because they are the best choices.

Companies outbid each other for certain keywords and phrases.

         II.  Who made the website?

Who is the author?

What are the author’s credentials?

Look for links that say “about us”, “background”, “who am I”

Does the author cite sources?

Who sponsors the page?

You can check who the publisher is at: http://www.easywhois.com

Is it a part of a larger website?

Is there a link to a home page?

Is there a link to email a webmaster?

Is this a personal website?

Look at the domain and URL. Common domain names are:

     .gov...............government agency

     .edu...............educational institution

     .mil................military

     .org...............organizations

     .k12.US.........school sites (not all schools use this

     .com..............company

     .net................network

        III.  What is the purpose of the website?

Is the purpose to inform, persuade, explain, or sell?

Is the information biased?

What does the author want you to understand or believe?

***  Knowing why information is presented to you is as important as who is presenting it  ***

        IV.  Is the information up-to-date?

How recent are the facts and figures?

When was the site created?

When was the site last updated?

          V.  How accurate is the information?

Where does the information come from?

Does the author cite sources?

Can I find the same information somewhere else?

Is a bibliography included?

Do the additional links on the page work?

         VI.  Relevancy

Is this information useful?