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Evaluating Internet Resources

The Internet

The Internet is enormous with millions of web pages and hundreds of new pages being added every day. It can be a confusing place, especially since anyone can post information to the Internet on any topic. But the Internet can also be an excellent source for finding materials for research papers and projects of all types and subjects. However it is essential that any Web site be evaluated before information from it is used.

How to Evaluate a Web Site

Here are 5 areas for beginning Web site evaluation. For more information on evaluating Web sites see Online Resources for Evaluating Web sites below.

1. Identify the site's domain - .edu, .com, .net, .gov, or .biz

  • .edu are part of a college or university's Web site
  • .gov are sites sponsored by the federal government
  • .com, .net and .biz are mostly commercial sites
  • .org an organization, or advocacy group, usually non-profit.

2. Who is the author of the site? This can be a person or a group.

  • What are the credentials and qualifications of the author or owner?
  • Look for the author's or owner's name and information at the top or bottom of the page or in a section titled, "About us."

3. Is the material accurate?

  • How accurate is the information? Does it match up with what you found in print sources?
  • Are sources of facts or statistics sited?
  • Does the site provide a bibliography or links to other sites?
  • Does the information appear to be unbiased and fair? If it is one-sided will it still work for your research?
  • Does the page contain advertising? Can you distinguish between the advertising and the rest of the site contents?

4. Is the site current?

  • Compared to your print sources, does the information appear up to date?
  • When was the page last updated? Look for a date at the bottom of the homepage.
  • Are the links current? Do most of them still work?

5. Is the site easy to use?

  • How well is it organized? Is there a site map or index?
  • Is it easy to navigate? Can you get to the homepage? Look for navigation bars usually on the top, bottom or sides of each page.
  • Is the site searchable? Does it have its own search engine?

Online Resources for Evaluating Internet Sites

Evaluating Internet Sources - Millikin University Staley Library

Has both a detailed guide to evaluation and a quick guide for review.

A brief web based tutorials focusing on the five areas of evaluation

Evaluating Internet Sites 101: an Interactive Tutorial - University at Albany, University Libraries

A web based interactive tutorial that covers all aspects of evaluation in-depth

An excellent guide to evaluating Web sites with lots of examples of good and bad Web sites for each area of evaluation.

Finding a Web site

1 - Use a site recommended by a trusted source

2 - Find a site using a search engine 

Resources for Recommended Web sites

Weblinks for Academic Subjects  - Millikin University Staley Library

Web sites have all been selected by Staley Library staff and are organized into more than 40 academic subject areas. All sites have annotations with brief evaluations and information about the site topics coverage.

The Internet Public Library is a service of the University of Michigan School of Information. The mission of the IPL is to provide library services to Internet users by finding, evaluating, selecting, organizing, describing, and creating online information resources. All Web sites on IPL are organized by subject. The IPL also includes sections just for kids and teens, KidSpace and TeenSpace.

Since 1997 the mission of Librarians' Index to the Internet has been to provide a well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy, Internet resources. Our motto: "Information You Can Trust." LII is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources, all selected and evaluated by librarians.

Search Engines and Directories

The Internet can also be accessed through any of the dozens of search engines. Be warned, the results from these searches include absolutely anything published on the Internet, so evaluation is even more important when using results from search engines.

Looking for specific information on search engine sizes, statistics, reviews and more? Visit the Search Engine Showdown.

Google 
  • Google's ranking method results in very good, relevant results.
  • Google has one of the largest databases.
  • The advanced search screen offers a variety of search options.
  • Google also offers News, Image Search, Groups, Directory, Google Scholar (new!), University, Government and lots more. See Google Services for all the Google search engines and detailed information on each.
Yahoo! 
  • One of the best known Internet subject directories. Subject directories are a collection of web page records that have been reviewed by humans (not necessarily librarians) and classified within a specific subject category. Subject directories are best for browsing and for searches of a more general nature.
  • Effectively integrates five areas of its databases when a search is submitted: Yahoo! Categories; Yahoo! Web Sites; Google database; News articles; Yahoo! Net Events.
  • Its partnership with Google, makes a large general database available.
  • Since sites are reviewed by human editors, the quality of sites are somewhat higher than in a general search engine, but results are limited to what is in the directory.
  • Dogpile is a metasearch engine. A metasearch search engine searches many search engines simultaneously. Although metasearchers have limitations, they can be useful if the subject is obscure, and if the search term is just one word or phrase.
  • Dogpile searches all the popular search engines, including Google, Ask Jeeves, Yahoo and more, and then combines all the search results in one place.
  • Search results have no duplicates and are organized for the best results at the top. Dogpile also has a "Refine Your Results" feature to further organize and group search results.

Thanks to Millikin University Staley Library staff for allowing the use of the contents of their handout, "Quick Tips for Evaluating Internet Sources" and the Web pages, "Internet Resources," "Evaluating Internet Resources," and "Effectively Using Search Engines."

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