Evaluating a Web Site

All of the factors that we have considered so far (authority of information, perspective, currency) are also important when evaluating Web sites.

When evaluating Web sites, there are some additional factors to consider:

• Is the author or group responsible for the information named? Is information about the author given?
• Who is sponsoring the site and why? Does the sponsoring body have a perspective that might lead to bias?
• Is the sponsoring body a government or inter-governmental organization (like the United Nations)? If so, the information is probably credible.
• Does the site provide information about when the content was last updated? Are the updates regular?
• Is old information archived or does it just disappear? If it disappears, hesitate before using it in an academic setting because one of the main assumptions of academic writing is that all information is verifiable.
• Is there some sort of review process for determining which content gets added to the site? Are there experts that act as editors? You can often find this information under an "About" section of the Web site.
• How stable is the site? Is it maintained by an individual (unstable) or is it an official site of a stable organization (like Amnesty International)? Unless the site seems stable, hesitate about using it in an academic setting.

WARNING

Remember, anyone can publish anything on the Internet. There are no quality controls. Be very suspicious of any site that does not give you much information about its purpose or the authors.