WEB EVALUATION

Before a book is published, an editor reviews the pages to make sure the content is accurate and the spelling and grammar are correct. Then critics review the book in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Finally, librarians evaluate the book according to their professional standards to make sure it's worth using for student research.

But no such review process exists for web pages. Anyone can publish anything to the web at any time. That's why it's important for you to carefully evaluate web pages before using the information.

Whenever you surf the web, use these criteria to make sure you're getting high-quality information from a reliable source:

• Who: Who wrote the information? What are his/her qualifications on the topic?

• What: What kind of content is on the site? Are the facts accurate? Is the information free of spelling and grammatical errors?

• Where: Where is the site hosted or produced?

• When: When was the site created and last updated?

• Why: Why was this information published? Is the goal of the site clearly stated?

• How: How well is the information presented? Is the site easy to use? Do links work correctly?

Web evaluation workshop

If you need help evaluating web sites, download the media center's web-evaluation/strategies sheet and view the screencasts below. Each screencast is 2-4 minutes long. Viewing them all will take about 20 minutes, or you can view only the particular section where you need help:

• Why evaluate?

• Who section

• What section

• When section

• Why section

• Summary section

Download a web evaluation checklist

Several universities offer online tutorials on research and information evaluation:

• Lafayette College: See the Help Evaluating section for tips on determining the quality of articles, primary sources, and web pages.

• Rider University: See the Information Literacy Search Skills Online Tutorial.